Podemos has responded to Frente Amplio that its conditions to close an agreement in Madrid and Catalonia cannot condition or hinder the agreements in the rest of the territories, and urges this space to seal an understanding in the majority of autonomous communities where it sees room for it. Furthermore, it emphasizes that it is not willing to accept being required to break the collaboration agreement it maintains with ERC.
In a document accessed by Europa Press, the purple formation responds to the proposal from Frente Amplio, which contemplated offering them preferential exit positions in Madrid and Catalonia —which would imply breaking the 'purple' pact with ERC—, integrating them into all coalitions in which Frente Amplio was already involved, and granting them a co-spokesperson role in Congress, among other aspects.
This proposal does not convince Podemos, which rejects it and reiterates that agreements should be closed outside of Madrid and Barcelona. "We propose that Catalonia, where Comuns and ERC are going to compete, and Madrid, the constituency in which the existence or not of agreements does not penalize the vote, constitute singularities that do not prevent the agreement in the rest of the territories," the text specifies.
In its counteroffer, Podemos proposes to focus on sealing alliances in territories such as Extremadura, Euskadi, Cantabria, Galicia, or Murcia, considering that there the understandings are already closed or well underway and that, however, they are "blocking from the direction of Frente Amplio." "It is essential to go together in those territories so that not a single leftist vote is lost. And in the same way, it is possible to agree on Andalusia, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Asturias, Navarra, and La Rioja," they add.
The document claims that its approach involves allowing the territorial organizations —mainly Podemos and Izquierda Unida, although it now admits that in some Movimiento Sumar is also incorporated— to continue advancing, given that they are already working "both on programmatic proposals, resources, and representativeness in the composition of the lists and spokesperson roles."
Therefore, it argues that in the final phase prior to the registration of the electoral coalitions, what is necessary is to accompany those conversations to ensure that "they are fair for all parties," just as, it emphasizes, has happened in the Canary Islands and the Valencian Community with unitary candidacies.
At the same time, Podemos claims the agreement reached with ERC for these elections and the involvement of Gabriel Rufián in the campaign: "We do not accept the demand to break that alliance that is implicit in the proposal you have sent us."
"On the contrary, we believe that collaboration should be reinforced, not rejected," concludes the document, insisting on its proposal to consider Madrid and Catalonia as an exception, so that in these two constituencies separate lists are presented.
On the other hand, sources from Podemos Andalucía explain that, of the five constituencies in which a seat was achieved in the 2023 elections in this community, they offered IU to run in Málaga, Córdoba, and Cádiz, while Podemos would lead Sevilla and Granada, but IU chose to articulate an agreement with other forces. Furthermore, they point out that conversations had been opened in Murcia, Extremadura, Cantabria, and Castilla y León among regional leaders, which were frozen starting at 8:00 PM.