The former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, has assured that the doors of Frente Amplio are "open" to the spokesperson of ERC in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, whom she urges to assume his "responsibility" and "leadership" with the aim of regrouping all the left ahead of the general elections on November 29.
"We are absolutely open from Frente Amplio for Gabriel Rufián to add that leadership to help unite all that left and that, effectively, we can meet the demand of the citizens, which is that there is a single proposal in the upcoming elections from the left," she pointed out on 'La Sexta', in statements collected by Europa Press.
Colau, also proposed as a candidate of Frente Amplio for the Presidency, specified that this call to the republican leader is made personally, without setting specific deadlines, and emphasizing that she accepts to occupy the place assigned to her on the list, because the position is indifferent to her as long as it is useful to the project. However, she reminded that there are only seven days left to close coalitions and that it is time to stop "beating around the bush."
Rufián's role in the unification of the left
In this context, she has offered Rufián her support "if he decides not only to be a candidate for Catalonia but also to exercise that leadership to unify that left at the state level." Her words come after the spokesperson of ERC in Congress expressed this Thursday his willingness to lead the republican candidacy accompanied by other leftist and antifascist forces. "And I will try until the end. And I hope ERC also wants it," he stated on social media, after it became known that the deputy spokesperson of ERC in the Parlament, Jordi Albert, is gathering endorsements to run for the ERC lists in the general elections as a possible alternative.
Together with Colau, the co-coordinator of Movimiento Sumar and parliamentary spokesperson in Congress, Verónica Martínez Barbero, has emphasized on TVE that Rufián is an "immense electoral asset" and has assured that they will keep the "phones on" in case he ultimately decides to integrate into Frente Amplio.
At the same time, the former mayor of Barcelona has reiterated that she does not intend to intervene in the internal debates of ERC and that she fully respects the organic life of the independentist party, which has so far rejected exploring alliances with projects like Frente Amplio.
A historic moment and a single left ballot
Colau has recalled that Rufián has shown himself, personally, to be in favor of a single ballot from the left to stop the advance of the right. She has explained that she herself was distanced from institutional politics and that, in light of this "historic" moment, she has decided to put herself at the service of a "broad and unitary" project, referring to Frente Amplio, which seeks to articulate a single leftist proposal.
For this reason, she has reiterated that the "doors of Frente Amplio are completely open" for Rufián, whom she considers one of the "most lucid in defending that idea" of a single list to the left of the PSOE. She encourages him to exercise that leadership that allows for the unification of all the lefts, including those at the state level, in order that "not a single vote is lost."
"I am experiencing these days that when my name has come up among the possible names for that unitary candidacy, many people tell me 'Yes, very good, but also with Gabriel Rufián' and I say 'Of course,'" emphasized the former mayor, who has hinted that she has kept in contact with the republican leader.
Irene Montero and a broad and plural front
Colau has also defended that the unitary project of Frente Amplio must incorporate "different faces" to be "more visible" and has invited all progressive forces to sit at a common negotiation table with the aim of "going all together to defeat the right and the far right."
She has insisted that she does not contemplate a scenario without Podemos within that joint candidacy and has shown herself convinced that the MEP and former Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, must also be integrated into Frente Amplio. "I take for granted that Irene Montero has to be there, that we hope Gabriel Rufián can be there and that all leftist formations are with us," she has reiterated, emphasizing that this is the mandate she perceives from the citizenry: to run with a minimum program that allows all sensitivities to find their role and their place.