Movimiento Sumar opens a new stage with a shared leadership.
Verónica Martínez Barbero and Rosa Martínez have been elected coordinators of the party at the extraordinary assembly held this Saturday in Madrid. Their candidacy, the only one presented to the coordinating group, received 95.92% support.
Verónica Martínez Barbero, the voice of Sumar in Congress
Verónica Martínez Barbero has been the spokesperson for the Sumar parliamentary group in Congress since November 2024.
Born in Gijón in 1980, she holds a degree in Law and Business Administration and is a Labor and Social Security Inspector on leave. She chaired the Galician Council for Labor Relations and was the Director General of Labor between 2020 and 2023.
In the 2023 general elections, she led the Sumar candidacy for Pontevedra and won a seat. Her profile has been built around labor negotiation, mediation, and parliamentary functioning.
Rosa Martínez, from environmentalism to Social Rights
Rosa Martínez is the Secretary of State for Social Rights and holds the number two position in the department led by Pablo Bustinduy.
She holds a degree in Political Science and has postgraduate training in History. She was a deputy for Vizcaya during the XI and XII legislatures and developed part of her political career in Equo and in the Basque space of Podemos.
Within Movimiento Sumar, she has worked especially on social policies and ecological transformation. She was also part of the interim leadership created after Yolanda Díaz's organic resignation in 2024.
They replace Lara Hernández
The new coordinators replace Lara Hernández, who left the party on July 1st.
Hernández resigned after a new internal crisis and reported suffering a smear campaign. Her departure forced the party to accelerate the extraordinary assembly and seek a consensus candidacy.
What role will Yolanda Díaz have now
Yolanda Díaz is not part of the new organic leadership.
The second vice president founded Movimiento Sumar in 2023 and relinquished her responsibility as coordinator after the 2024 European elections. Verónica Martínez Barbero, however, argued that Díaz will continue to be a political reference point even without holding an internal position.
Ernest Urtasun continues as one of the most recognizable public figures of the organization, although his specific position within the new structure was not defined after the vote.
The challenge of rebuilding the space
The new leadership receives a party weakened by internal crises, loss of electoral support, and differences between the formations that make up the space.
Its main task will be to negotiate a new alliance with Izquierda Unida, the Comuns, Más Madrid, and other actors before the next general elections. Movimiento Sumar also wants to strengthen its territorial structure for the 2027 regional and municipal elections.
The assembly also approved a new political document and resolutions on youth organization, territorial coordination, feminism, eco-socialism, and foreign policy.