The Frente Amplio candidate for the general elections of 29N, Ada Colau, already has an agenda closed that will take her to visit around a dozen autonomous communities during the campaign, for which she has set aside a budget of 1.6 million euros.
At the same time, housing will be placed at the center of the electoral message with the slogan "A vote like a home", as had been hinted at in some 'spot' of Frente Amplio and confirm sources from the candidacy, which is proposing to compete for seats to Vox in a fortnight of provinces.
This Monday, the campaign spokesperson and minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, has detailed the main lines of the electoral strategy of Frente Amplio and has shown confidence in achieving a notable result, despite what several polls reflect, by arguing that they will manage to activate the alternative left with their two main campaign axes: housing and the fight against inequality.
Calendar and key territories of the electoral tour
In his appearance, Bustinduy has specified that the Frente Amplio candidate for Moncloa has planned to visit Madrid, Aragon, Asturias, Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Castile and León, Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Basque Country during the campaign.
In any case, more events will be scheduled, given that the objective is to have a presence in almost the entire territory and, especially, in the constituencies where seats are at stake. Sources from the candidacy point, for example, to the intention of including the Balearic Islands and various additional provinces.
With the events already set, Frente Amplio and Colau will begin the campaign in Madrid on Thursday with the traditional poster-sticking, and the first major rally will be in Seville on Saturday 14. On Sunday, the activity will move to Zaragoza, where they will hold an event together with their coalition partner Chunta Aragonesista.
As Bustinduy has indicated, during the first week of the campaign they will also travel to the Basque Country, Castile and León and Asturias (with a stop in Gijón). In addition, Colau's agenda highlights her presence in Valencia on the 19th to back the Compromís-Frente Valenciano candidacy, while the candidate's main event will take place in Barcelona on the 21st.
Afterwards, on the 22nd she will travel to the Canary Islands to support the Unidad del Pueblo Canario candidacy, which they share with forces such as Nueva Canarias and Podemos. On the 23rd she will take part in a rally in Coruña and the campaign closing will once again be in Madrid on the 27th.
Budget, propaganda and digital militancy
The global campaign budget of Frente Amplio amounts to something more than 1.6 million euros, of which 1.1 million will be allocated to ordinary expenses and 5.30.125 euros to the sending of electoral propaganda (mailing). These resources come mainly from electoral subsidies, contributions from the parties that make up the coalition, and donations from supporters.
In the materials section, the candidate list plans to distribute 111.110 paper posters, 989.000 leaflets, 97.400 stickers and 43.500 brochures where the main proposals are collected.
At the same time, Frente Amplio has promoted a WhatsApp group for digital militancy, following the lead of the strategy that proved key to the victory of the Brazilian president Lula da Silva. Currently, this tool brings together more than 60.000 followers, to whom the leaders Eduardo Fernández Rubiño and Alicia Carrera assign specific tasks.
The minister and campaign spokesperson has stated that the candidacy is close to 10% intention to vote at the official start of the campaign, a threshold that, by the very logic of the electoral system, would practically allow the number of seats to be doubled. That percentage opens the door to achieving representation in numerous provinces where deputies are at stake with Vox and where, according to Bustinduy, they will be the “differential factor” in these elections.
Sources from the candidacy point out that they handle a list of constituencies considered strategic, in which they trust to wrest seats from Vox and from the right-wing bloc. Among them, they cite Seville, Navarre, the Balearic Islands, Cádiz, Tarragona, Pontevedra, Las Palmas or Zaragoza, among others.
They also advance that at the events there will be prominent figures from the political space and that during the campaign the second deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, as well as other ministers and reference figures will play a relevant role.
Polls, alternative left and the dispute with the PSOE
Bustinduy has reiterated his confidence in the performance of Frente Amplio in this pre-campaign and has questioned the reliability of the polls published in the last few days, considering that historically “the polls have always underestimated the alternative left.” As an example, he recalled that in 2023 the “unanimous” consensus pointed to a victory for the right and, however, the ballot boxes made it possible to form a majority to invest a progressive government.
"Participation has been extremely high," Bunstinduy has stressed, before underlining that in these elections the future of the public pensions system is decided, the existence or not of a minimum wage, and the continuity of public healthcare. For this reason, he has warned that those who "think that everything has already been decided are going to be in for a surprise on 29N."
In relation to the PSOE, he has mocked that it is a "classic" for socialists to showcase in the campaign measures that his political space has driven forward throughout the entire parliamentary term. In his view, their mission is to explain that the alternative left is noticeable when it takes office, and he has insisted that if the minimum wage has risen in Spain and a labor reform has been approved, it is because Yolanda Díaz has held the Labor portfolio.
In fact, Bustinduy has advanced that during the campaign they will put on the table "well-sounding measures" that will mark a distance from the PSOE. Likewise, he has highlighted the credibility of candidates such as Colau or the top candidate for Madrid, Emilio Delgado, on matters of housing and taxation of the great fortunes.
As for the proposal to establish a tax on the ultra-rich, one of Frente Amplio's defining features, the minister has commented that the "filharmonic of sad millionaires" has already come out to protest against this levy.
Asked about the possibility of sharing events with Podemos and ERC, with whom they run in a coalition in the Valencian Community, Bustinduy has pointed out that they will try to be "everywhere, in every corner, and with everyone" during the campaign, by claiming that they represent the space for unity of the left and aim to reach the last corner of the country.
"We are going to go to the last corner of the country, with everyone, with whoever is needed. That has always been our attitude, from the beginning," he added.
Lastly, Bustinduy has stressed that Frente Amplio "urges people to support, take part, get mobilized and protest" so that "the country comes to a standstill on the day of the general strike," called for this Wednesday, 11 November. In this sense, he has defended that it is essential "the mobilization of the working classes of this country against the plunder that the rentier system implies, which is robbing and confiscating their wages."