The candidate of the Frente Amplio for the general elections on November 29, Ada Colau, has addressed Podemos emphasizing that "everything can be discussed," also "the candidate for the presidency," but that "what cannot be discussed is the unity to defeat fascism," rejecting that there are "important differences" between both formations.
"It is time to unite," Colau has pointed out in an interview on 'El perro andaluz' of TVE, reported by Europa Press, in which she has warned Podemos that "history" will "judge them by how we behave during these 24 hours."
Despite the tensions, she has shown herself "optimistic" about the last 24 hours of conversations for Frente Amplio and Podemos to close a pact and run together on 29N, and has specifically demanded from the purple party that "they listen to the citizens" because "they are asking for broad-mindedness."
Likewise, she has asked citizens to "convey to the parties" what "is being discussed in bars, in homes" and has pleaded "please" that "they express the need for that unity."
Colau has invoked the "programmatic coincidence" between Podemos and Frente Amplio to justify her call: "All progressive forces agree on the program. We must defend pensions and raise them, we must raise wages, we must defend the right to housing and end speculation."
"It cannot be that we do not unite over a programmatic issue," she has insisted, before alluding again to the d'Hondt law that regulates the electoral system. As she has explained, "it causes many seats to be lost and those seats to go to Vox if the votes are divided among several leftist options at the state level."
The former mayor of Barcelona has emphasized that "10,000 votes" distributed between two different lists can "not give any seat" and that "therefore, that seat goes to Vox." In contrast, "if those 20,000 votes go together, it is one seat or several for the left."
A "difference" that, she has pointed out, "is not one, two, three seats" but implies "multiplying results and taking seats away from the far right." "That is why we are insisting on the importance of unity," she has reiterated.
Finally, the candidate has admitted that she maintains an exchange of messages with the candidate of Esquerra Republicana, Gabriel Rufián, despite reproaching him for having "failed" to integrate into the Frente Amplio "as he had promised" and for having signed "an agreement with Podemos that has not helped." Nevertheless, she has defended that it is essential to continue "in contact" and "work" to achieve the unity of the left.