The minority partner of the Government is once again going to the polls through a broad coalition of parties, partially replicating the formula used in 2023 with the Sumar candidacy. However, the new platform reproduces certain elements of the previous model but also introduces significant differences compared to what happened four years ago.
Both projects of the alternative left have had to react to an electoral advance and to the tight deadlines set by law to register coalitions once the General Courts are dissolved, although the political scenarios of 2023 and the current ones present notable contrasts.
The main gap between both moments is the consummated break between Frente Amplio and Podemos, which will only share ballots in the Canary Islands and the Valencian Community, while in the rest of the constituencies division prevails.
Four years ago, there were also strong tensions between "purple" and Sumar, the project promoted by the second vice president Yolanda Díaz, but an agreement was finally reached at the last minute, on the last day to register coalitions, despite Podemos denouncing the veto on its current electoral reference, Irene Montero.
On this occasion, the split has proven definitive and both Frente Amplio and Podemos have exchanged reproaches for the lack of unity. The purple formation maintains that agreements were frustrated in numerous communities because Frente Amplio demanded a global pact that included the constituency of Catalonia, which would have meant breaking the prior understanding with ERC, and also Madrid, where Podemos aspired to run with its own list headed by Montero.
Frente Amplio, for its part, argues that it tried to incorporate Podemos by all means, even offering relevant leading positions in Madrid and Barcelona, but that it is unfeasible to close a pact if one of the parties refuses.
As a result, the new coalition calls to "turn the page," although within this space there are sectors that continue to advocate for attempting a final rapprochement with the purple ones and integrating them as independents in the lists of those territories where a coalition agreement was not reached.
New actors, repeating allies, and exits from the block
An example of this path is Chunta Aragonesista and Ara Més, which have proposed the option of incorporating leaders from Podemos into their candidacies, emphasizing that there was an advanced pre-agreement that ultimately did not materialize.
These two territorial forces appear again as electoral partners of the minority partner of the Executive, just like Compromís, which in the Community of Valencia has managed to include Podemos in the pact.
In the map of allies, variations between Frente Amplio and Sumar are also noticeable. On this occasion, Drago Canarias, the project of former deputy Alberto Rodríguez, opts for its own list, when four years ago it integrated into the Sumar candidacy. Alianza Verde, which was part of the Sumar party block in 2023, also does not participate now.
Frente Amplio, on the other hand, has incorporated small forces like Recortes Cero or Partido Humanista into its coalition, in addition to territorial formations like Somos Asturies, driven by former members of Podemos.
Leaderships: candidacy defined in Sumar and prolonged debate in Frente Amplio
In 2023, the birth of Sumar was from the beginning linked to the leadership of Yolanda Díaz, who in April of that year confirmed that she would be the candidate and, thanks to her electoral pull, managed to group the main parties to the left of the PSOE on the same ballot. In addition, she deployed a listening process that allowed her to weave a network of support.
In contrast, now it has been the four formations with representation in the Government that have promoted Frente Amplio. Since February, although the conversations had started earlier, they committed to creating a stable collaboration space and a collective project, away from hyper-leaderships.
For months, Frente Amplio has coexisted with a vacuum of electoral leadership and an intense internal debate about who should lead the candidacy, a discussion that extended even after the announcement of the electoral advance. After weeks of speculation, last Monday it was agreed that the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, would be the candidate for the Presidency of the Government.
Colau breaks the tradition of Madrid and the architecture of the space
Another novelty is that Colau will run for the Barcelona constituency, breaking the custom that the candidate for the Moncloa presents from Madrid, as Yolanda Díaz did in 2023. The list for the capital will be headed by the leader of Más Madrid, Emilio Delgado, and it is expected that this candidacy will include prominent figures from IU and Movimiento Sumar.
In 2023, Sumar tried to configure itself as a common umbrella that organically integrated the different organizations, although it later renounced that ambition, which generated distrust in several parties, to function as one more force, open to cooperation with its allies.
Frente Amplio, for its part, aims to create a space for horizontal cooperation among the organizations, preserving the identity of each one and articulating asymmetric pacts. Thus, there are parties that renounce integrating into the organic structure of the project, such as Compromís, Chunta, or Més, which also maintain their own brands on the ballots of their respective constituencies.
The primaries, a recurring point of friction with Podemos
Among the similarities between both processes stands out Podemos' insistence on conditioning any unitary agreement to the holding of open primaries for the entire left. In 2023, Sumar rejected this demand and the electoral advance ended up forcing Podemos to accept a direct negotiation between parties due to the lack of time.
In this new electoral appointment, the "purples" opted to prioritize territorial agreements with Frente Amplio in different communities, but excluding Catalonia, due to its alliance with ERC, and Madrid, noting that, without primaries, they preferred to run with their own list in a constituency that, in their opinion, does not punish the fragmentation of the vote as much.
The issue of the brand also differs. Díaz's project had the name Sumar already in the spring of 2022, although it had not yet been formalized as the name of the candidacy. In contrast, Frente Amplio was named as such at a party summit held just a day before the president of the Government announced the electoral advance.