The negotiations of the left for the general elections on November 29 will not only determine the candidacies that will appear on the ballots. They can also condition the organization of the parties in Congress once the seats are distributed, especially if Podemos ends up running through different agreements depending on the constituency.
The formation of Irene Montero has reached a collaboration agreement with ERC for Catalonia, where it will not present its own candidacy and plans to incorporate people close to the party into the republican lists. At the same time, it keeps open the conversations to reach specific agreements with other leftist forces in certain provinces, although for now it will not integrate into the Broad Front promoted by IU, Más Madrid, the Comuns, and Movimiento Sumar.
The combination of opposing candidacies, collaboration agreements, and possible electoral coalitions raises a regulatory question: whether the deputies elected through those formulas could later integrate into the same parliamentary group or if they would be obliged to remain in different groups.
The answer depends on how the alliances are formalized and on the requirements of the article 23 of the Congress Regulations, which was precisely reformed this summer to facilitate the constitution of groups for formations with less representation.
On the lists, but without formal coalition
The agreement between Podemos and ERC contemplates that the purples do not run with their own initials in Catalonia and ask for votes for the republicans. In addition, ERC has announced the incorporation of independents linked to Podemos in its candidacies for Barcelona and Tarragona.
The republican leadership has clarified that this is not an electoral coalition. Its spokesperson, Isaac Albert, assured this Tuesday that the lists, the program, and the future parliamentary group will be of ERC, so the deputies elected under those candidacies would integrate into the republican group.
The distinction has consequences. The Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREG) regulates formal coalitions, but does not prevent a party from incorporating independent candidates or those from other political spaces into its lists.
Therefore, a candidate linked to Podemos who obtains a seat on an ERC list would not automatically have the right to form a distinct parliamentary group. Their situation would depend on the conditions of integration and the applicable rules for the constitution of groups.
The agreement also places Podemos in a singular position regarding the Frente Amplio, of which the Comuns are part, who will presumably compete electorally against ERC in Catalonia.
Competing at the polls does not prevent sharing a group
The scenario in Madrid is different. The Frente Amplio is working on a candidacy led by Emilio Delgado, while Podemos has not confirmed its incorporation and keeps open the possibility of running separately. Irene Montero has ruled out for now a state coalition with the Frente Amplio and has left the door open to agreements limited to certain constituencies.
If Podemos and the Frente Amplio ultimately present two opposing candidacies in Madrid, their deputies could later integrate into the same parliamentary group, although this possibility is unlikely.
Article 23 of the Congress Regulations does not require that all members of a group have run under the same candidacy. On the contrary, it expressly allows the formation of groups with deputies belonging to one or several political formations.
The prohibition operates in the opposite direction: it limits that deputies from the same party or from formations that did not face each other before the electorate form separate groups.
This means that the electoral competition between Podemos and the Frente Amplio in Madrid would not alone prevent a subsequent parliamentary agreement, as long as the requirements for formation and integration into the group are met.
Coalition for small constituencies
The open scenario could lead to competition between Podemos and the Frente Amplio in several provinces and for them to present together in smaller ones, as long as the agreements comply with electoral legislation.
Article 44 of the LOREG establishes that parties wishing to form an electoral coalition must communicate it to the competent Electoral Board within ten days following the call --a deadline that expires this Friday--. Furthermore, it prevents a party integrated into a coalition from presenting a own candidacy in the same constituency in which that coalition competes.
The parliamentary consequence is more complex. If Podemos shares an electoral coalition with other formations in some provinces but competes against them in others, the Congress Table must examine how the prohibition of forming separate groups between parties that did not face each other before the electorate is applied.
Coalitions cannot be freely divided
The Congress Regulation provides in its article 23.2 two prohibitions: deputies of the same party cannot form separate groups and neither can those who belonged to political formations that did not face the electorate.
This last provision particularly affects electoral coalitions. Two parties that run together do not automatically acquire the right to form distinct groups after the elections, even if each one obtains enough deputies to meet the numerical requirements.
The Regulation seeks to prevent the same electoral candidacy from subsequently fragmenting into several parliamentary groups. However, when parties have run jointly in some constituencies and separately in others, the application of this prohibition requires examining the circumstances of each case.
The Congress debuts more flexible requirements
The debate on left alliances coincides with a reform of the Congress Regulation approved on July 23, which will come into effect with the XVI legislature. The rule maintains the requirement of having 15 deputies to form a group, but facilitates the alternative route for parties that obtain at least five seats.
Until now, that second route required obtaining 15% of the votes in the corresponding constituencies or 5% in the whole of Spain. From the next legislature, the requirements will be an average of 10% of valid votes in the constituencies where representation is obtained, or 3% of valid votes in the whole country.
This modification may be relevant for Podemos and the Frente Amplio if they run separately and both obtain sufficient representation to request their own group. However, the reduction of the percentages does not eliminate the restrictions on parties that shared electoral candidacies.
Share a group despite competing?
Yes, in principle. If Podemos and the Frente Amplio run in different candidacies, the Regulation does not prevent them from jointly forming a parliamentary group, as long as they meet the required conditions. Right now it seems highly unlikely, but it is also not possible to rule it out if they need to join forces to form their own group.
The situation is different when two separate groups are intended to be constituted from formations that have shared an electoral coalition. In that case, Article 23.2 comes into play and the Table must assess whether the prohibition regarding parties that did not face each other before the voters is fulfilled.
Constitutional jurisprudence also distinguishes between constituting a parliamentary group and integrating into one already formed. The Judgment 64/2002 of the Constitutional Court addresses this difference and the limits on the use of electoral results to justify the creation of groups.
Therefore, the decision to share lists in some provinces and compete in others does not solely determine what the subsequent parliamentary organization will be. Electoral alliances and parliamentary ones respond to different rules, although the former can condition the latter.
Five days to resolve the groups after the elections
Once the Congress is constituted, the deputies will have five days to communicate to the Table the formation of their parliamentary groups, in accordance with Article 24 of the Regulations.
The requests must identify their members and spokespersons. The parliamentarians who cannot constitute their own group will have the possibility of integrating into another, in accordance with the regulatory rules, or move to the Mixed Group.
The Table will be responsible for examining the requests and verifying compliance with the requirements, with the possibility of constitutional control over its decisions.
In this way, the negotiations that Podemos, ERC, and the Broad Front maintain before 29-N will have a second derivative after the elections. The agreements that are finally registered to compete at the polls will influence the options of each formation to organize in Congress, access their own resources and have differentiated representation in the Chamber.