The PSOE and Frente Amplio have reached an agreement to run with joint candidacies for the Senate in the general elections on the upcoming November 29. The pact, finalized this Friday, the last day of the deadline to communicate electoral coalitions, aims to improve the left's chances of contesting the absolute majority from the PP in the Upper House.
The socialists had been working for weeks on a formula that would allow to concentrate the progressive vote in the Senate elections, where the electoral system favors the most voted candidacies. The understanding would also open the door for the parties integrated into Frente Amplio to obtain parliamentary representation that they currently lack.
The agreement responds to the intention of both formations to avoid the PP retaining an absolute majority like the one it has maintained during the legislature. From the PSOE, they believe that the popular party has used its dominant position in the Upper House to block initiatives and institutional decisions, including the renewal of the Constitutional Court.
The electoral arithmetic of the Senate
Unlike the Congress, where seats are distributed through a proportional system, the Senate uses a majority system of open lists in the provincial constituencies. In most provinces, four senators are elected, and each voter can vote for a maximum of three candidates.
This mechanism allows a candidacy that concentrates enough support to usually obtain three of the four representatives from a province, while the fourth seat usually corresponds to another formation.
Therefore, the presentation of joint candidacies can be decisive in those constituencies where the left's vote is spread among different political options. The objective of the pact is to increase the chances of obtaining representation and reduce the PP's advantage, although its impact will depend on the results in each territory.
An agreement at the deadline of the electoral period
The understanding between PSOE and Frente Amplio has occurred on the last day allowed to communicate the coalitions that will run in the elections of 29N.
This Saturday, the Federal Committee of the PSOE will meet in Madrid to ratify the socialist candidacies and confirm Pedro Sánchez as the candidate for the Presidency of the Government.
The pact for the Senate arrives, moreover, at a moment of intense negotiations among the organizations of the alternative left, which are rushing the deadlines to finalize their territorial alliances ahead of the electoral appointment.
The pressure for a unitary candidacy
The possibility of presenting joint lists for the Senate had also received the support of a citizen initiative. Last week, the platform "Senators for Democracy" was presented, which gathers thousands of signatures and demands that the left parties run united in the Upper House.
Among the adhering entities is the Pedro Zerolo Foundation, close to the PSOE.
With this agreement, socialists and the Broad Front bring to the Senate a formula for electoral collaboration that seeks to maximize the representation of the left in a Chamber where the distribution of seats can amplify the differences between the main political blocs.