The former general secretary of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, has defended that primaries open to the citizenry be the basic axis for building a unitary candidacy on the alternative left. However, he has stressed that it is essential for political formations to assume the "courage" and "risk" of submitting this system to a vote to choose their list leaders.
His proposal comes while the progressive space to the left of the PSOE debates how to face the next general elections. The spokesperson for ERC, Gabriel Rufián, has shown himself willing to lead a broad front if it contributes to unity, while Podemos proposes an electoral tandem between the republican leader and the former Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, with the idea of promoting a process of overflow in the alternative left.
In parallel, the forces that make up the minority partner of the Government (IU, Comuns, Movimiento Sumar, and Más Madrid) are working to re-edit their alliance and consolidate a broad left-wing coalition, although for the moment they have neither a candidate nor a defined electoral brand.
In this context, Movimiento Sumar has included in the document for its next assembly on July 11 the possibility of organizing primaries to draw up the lists, in case there is no agreement between the different organizations.
During a debate panel at the 'Spring Festival', one of Podemos' main ideological gatherings held in Madrid, Iglesias has underlined that the direct participation of citizens in the election of candidates is the "elephant that is always present in the room" of the alternative left. He has insisted that there is great concern in the entire progressive space about the difficulties of the different acronyms in "finding each other at an electoral level".
Latin America as a reference for the left
In his speech, he pointed out that Latin America functions as a "laboratory" that the left looks to and that, on the other side of the Atlantic, the forces with the best results at the polls are not necessarily those that think "the same", but rather those that manage to articulate popular participation more effectively, which ends up defining the correlation of forces between the different sectors.
Applied to the Spanish case, Iglesias has argued that open primary processes for citizens are the way to build unity, by allowing "very broad" sectors of society to get involved, who would perceive that "this is not about party seats," but a candidacy "now truly exciting" chosen by the people.
He recalled that it was Podemos who promoted "massive" primaries in Spain and explained that this system of election carries a "price that everyone knows," which, in his opinion, leads other forces to avoid competing with the purple party in that arena.
Therefore, he insisted that the alternative left must assume a "willingness to take risks" and "bravery" to launch open primaries, given that if the bases can vote on an electoral program, they should also decide on that eventual "great unity candidacy." "Let Óscar Puente run in the primaries, there's no problem. If the people decide the lists and the people decide the program by voting, then there's no problem," he said ironically.
In the same vein, he reiterated that the real obstacle is the "fear of participation," but warned that if the aim is to "stop the far-right and the right" in 2027, it is essential to "let people vote." Furthermore, he warned that "if the most exciting thing presented is the lesser evil," the outcome is already known because they are seeing it "all the time," in a veiled criticism of the Sumar space.
Criticism of the PSOE and control of the judiciary
At another point in his speech, Iglesias reproached the PSOE for its lack of determination to reform the law for the election of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and to stop "playing the fool" or setting up the "garrapata commando" with former militant Leire Díez to "make a fool of themselves in front of millions of people."
He even suggested that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, "might be making a fool of himself" by allowing operators linked to the right to "continue controlling" key ministries, specifically citing Margarita Robles (Defense) and Fernando Grande Marlaska (Interior).
At the same table, the general secretary of Facua, Rubén Sánchez, reflected that unity candidacies are a desirable goal, but that they cannot be built "from arrogance and humiliation," referring to the case of 'Por Andalucía' and the absence of good starting positions for Podemos within that coalition.
He added that, although some consider that in that experience "the furniture was saved", it is necessary to act with "greater foresight" and truly think about the shared project. He even admitted that, in those elections, he hesitated whether to direct his vote towards the PSOE in Andalusia because of everything that happened in the alliance that IU, Sumar and Podemos formed together with other parties.