Sumar and Podemos accentuate their differences a year after the breakup | Spain

That December 5 was another frenetic afternoon in the Congress of Deputies, one of those that happen every 15 or 20 days in the last legislatures, where nothing is predictable or stable anymore. There were about ten minutes left before five in the afternoon, the plenary session was holding at that moment an appearance by Albares on Palestine and the news of Podemos’s break with Sumar revolutionized the chamber, which until that moment was more pending on the celebrations of the Constitution to date. following. A little more than four months had passed since the general elections that gave Ione Belarra’s formation five deputies in a group of 31, her two ministers were no longer part of the new Government and the reproaches had only become more acute. A year later, personal relations remain broken and the political strategy between both forces is that of differentiation, with Podemos increasingly putting pressure on the Government. “The only thing I have are my votes, so I have to use them,” Belarra acknowledged this Friday in an informal conversation with journalists at the December 6 events.

Sumar tries to distance itself from the PSOE (in housing, flexible leave or LGTBI policies) in an Executive even without Budgets, when it must recompose itself after the fall from grace of Íñigo Errejón, without a coordinator and after the poor results in regional and European elections. The party founded by Pablo Iglesias, reduced in its structure, has hardened its position against the Executive and plays at being Junts using its four deputies – they have conditioned the PGE to the breaking of relations with Israel or the reduction of rents – in a course in which it must also renew its address with the main asset of Irene Montero as an electoral poster. Space, with declining polls, does not have it easy and the law is stubborn in penalizing division. The leader of Izquierda Unida, Antonio Maíllo, is the only one who so far publicly advocates for a unity candidacy, which will be decided in primaries and “without crossed vetoes” as a formula to revalidate a progressive Government.

“The decision to move to the Mixed Group came after weeks of debate and reflection, and was questioned by analysts and the media, but today no one doubts that it was a key step to strengthen our autonomy and our ability to make politics from the institutions,” defend sources from the Podemos leadership, who take advantage of their influence this year when it comes to avoiding cuts in the unemployment benefit for those over 52 years of age, the extension of the electric social bonus or the tax on energy companies (an agreement with the socialists whose fulfillment is a condition, Belarra insisted this Friday, to later close an agreement on the Accounts).

The strategies, today, are perceived very differently in each party. While in Ione Belarra’s organization they talk about using their deputies to “turn the Government to the left”, in Sumar they believe that the party only seeks to “overthrow” the Executive to measure themselves again in general elections. “The legislature does not depend on whether there is a Budget or not,” says the Podemos leader, taking the pressure off her shoulders. If in their organization they repeat that there is “paralysis” and that in the coalition “only Sánchez is in charge”, those of Díaz show their weight with some labor regulations or the symbolic recognition of the Palestinian State.

In this time, Podemos has suffered casualties (the most important being that of the Secretary of Organization, Lilith Verstrynge, whose resignation left them with four parliamentarians) and has lost in the electoral duel in Galicia and Euskadi (where it has no representation), but The results of both were so poor that they did nothing other than worsen the crisis on the left of the PSOE. In the European elections in June, Podemos obtained two MEPs and Sumar, which included more than six organizations, three. The failure caused Díaz to step aside, leaving the organization without leadership. While the parliamentary group is testing a new internal distribution, Movimiento Sumar has been delaying its Assembly, which in principle will be held in March without other parties, still lacking an organizational model and a clear substitute for coordination. And with Díaz’s role still up in the air.

In parallel, Podemos chooses several territorial addresses this December, with the main unknown being Andalusia. In the community, which, together with Castilla y León, is the first to hold elections, all the actors in Parliament are working to revalidate a coalition whose relations have been greased over time. Before June 2025, the party must hold its V Citizen Assembly, and the commitment to the Belarra-Montero tandem for organic and electoral leadership is consolidated.

Recompose ties

That December 5, deputy Javier Sánchez Serna justified the break with the lack of political autonomy of his party, which, without success, had asked to intervene in the session to defend its position on the conflict in the Middle East. But the reality is that the pact for the general elections, after some very tough negotiations with the veto of Irene Montero in the middle, had been born mortally wounded. “They strained the space until it broke. This year has been good for them, but they will never have it better and they haven’t just stood out either,” questions a Sumar leader, who sees the polls stable, with Yolanda Díaz’s vote estimate at 7% and Podemos around to 3.4%, according to the CIS of November. “In an electoral campaign, those two points of difference with the results of 23-J [12,3%]”, they can be recovered,” analyzes another figure close to space, who remembers that Spain continues to be an island in Europe and the possibilities are enormous. The problem is the division. And the difficulty, rebuilding the ties.

“The breakup has been good for Podemos, which was freed from abuse and neglect and was able to start breathing. That relationship started toxic and continued toxic,” summarizes Juan Carlos Monedero, political science professor and co-founder of Podemos, today far from the front line. “When Podemos left, the possibility of building dialogues again from another place was opened, as has happened in Andalusia. Sumar, on the other hand, began to devour itself, which showed that its only cement was hating Podemos,” he adds. “If Podemos feels strong, it will look for some form of unity that does not make it lose its identity. But it is true that there are many wounds (…) All these pains are more personal than ideological. If the personal takes precedence, we will not meet; If the ideological prevails, there will be some kind of Broad Front. And that the “old guards” have returned to our pre-political tasks can be a great help,” continues Monedero, who avoids going into whether it is necessary for the current leading figures to retire.

“In this case, the order of the factors does alter the product,” defends a member of the Sumar Executive. “If there is no unity, there is no progressive coalition government, but if there is no reduction in the working day, no increase in the minimum wage, no housing measures, neither. This is the first thing, and this Government is going to be judged by its ability to respond to the problems,” he elaborates to now focus on the action of the Executive. Doing it well, they insist, is the precondition for there being any chance of future success.