The former Minister of Consumption and former federal coordinator of IU, Alberto Garzón, has considered it "brave" and "even desirable" that the spokesperson for ERC in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, considers himself the reference for the alternative left space.
He stated this in declarations to "La Sexta", collected by Europa Press, after the republican deputy showed himself willing to lead a broad front as long as it served to reinforce the unity of the forces to the left of the PSOE.
Garzón has underlined that he shares the approach and finds Rufián's proposal "brave". "I even find it desirable that he can run to be the reference for that space," he pointed out, adding that state-level parties do not constitute a problem, as the ERC spokesperson recently argued.
In this regard, the former minister has contrasted that national parties can be found to be "weak" in certain regional election scenarios, but has emphasized that the panorama is different when state-level elections are held.
In any case, he has defended that "the coexistence between national parties" with a federal vocation and territorial or regional formations is "not incompatible", giving the Sumar coalition's candidacy in the general elections of 23J as an example of this coexistence.
Rufián, the "best asset" of sociological left
Under this premise, Garzón has even stated that, currently, Rufián is the "best asset that the sociological left has", "whether one likes it more or less", and has added that, if he finally decides to run as a candidate, he "will be attractive" to the set of parties that today embody the left, which he has described as numerous and diverse.
The former leader of IU has insisted that clear leadership is needed to articulate unity to the left of the PSOE for the next general elections, something that, in his opinion, constitutes "a condition for the possibility of revalidating the coalition government". "Otherwise it is impossible," he has sentenced, warning that fragmentation would put the continuity of the current Executive at risk.