Podemos Catalunya has made official the two candidates that will bid for control of the party. This is the until now regional general coordinator, Conchi Abellán, who took office in 2020, and her number two in the training apparatus, the organization secretary María Pozuelo.
Both candidates have obtained the necessary endorsements (150 endorsements) to compete in the primary elections to choose the new leadership and the political roadmap that Podemos Catalunya will have and the relationship with Catalunya en Comú after the breakup of Podemos with Sumar. The internal process will culminate on February 2, with the designation of the winner.
Both candidates are presented separately despite the fact that both maintain a position aligned with the guidelines of the state leadership in terms of strengthening the autonomy of Podemos and rethinking its relations with the rest of the formations in the left-wing space. However, the political profile of both admits nuances about the internal organization and the seal of Podem Catalunya.
Abellán agrees with all the decisions of the state leadership and remains in line with them. In fact, the leader has recently seen her loyalty to the state leadership rewarded with her appointment as the party’s municipal policy secretary. For his part, Pozuelo points out the need for Podemos Catalunya to have room to decide in the Catalan political sphere, on the basis that the Catalan idiosyncrasy admits nuances that are not taken into account in the state leadership.
Be that as it may, in both cases the importance of rethinking the relationship with the common people is highlighted, “from one to one”, in view of the upcoming electoral events, and they give prominence to militancy. Therefore, in this case there is no candidacy that marks distances from the latest decisions of Podemos in Madrid and that is committed to unity with Sumar. Currently, and despite the resignation of more than 120 militants – among them many with organic and public positions – Podem has about 2,000 militants and about 12,000 registered in Catalonia.
In the public presentation of their respective candidacies, in separate videos broadcast on social networks, Abellán was committed to strengthening the party and “having more autonomy and more capacity to influence inside and outside the institutions”, and claimed a “stronger, stronger” Podem. stable and with guarantees”. For his part, Pozuelo defended that his objective is to “return to being the determining political force” in Catalonia, and stressed that this involves analyzing and rethinking the relationship with the rest of the political forces for future alliances, in clear reference to the commons.
The primary process in the party is clearly marked by the resignation of these 120 militants, motivated by the suspension of 13 of the 25 members of the previous leadership of Podemos Catalunya for defending unity around Sumar, before the general elections of the party. 23-J.
Since these elections, relations between Podemos and Sumar have led to a total breakdown. The practical consequences of this divorce have led to the prohibition of double militancy, which has caused one of the coordinators of the commons, Jéssica Albiach, to break with Podemos, where she had been active since 2014.
Furthermore, Podemos has decided to present its own candidacy for the European elections next June with Irene Montero at the helm, making it impossible to run jointly in autonomies such as Galicia and Catalonia.
These primaries in Catalonia are held at the same time in the regional delegations of Podemos in Asturias, Aragon, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Madrid, the Valencian Community and Murcia. In the case of Catalonia, 28 people will be elected to form the Autonomous Citizen Council, to which another 14 people will be added who will later choose the circles of the territories and who will also be part of the leadership.
