Round day for the official Podemos sector. The party’s bases have not only ratified the former Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, as a candidate for the party’s European elections but have also given their support to the candidates promoted by the general secretary, Ione Belarra, in eight autonomous communities.
In this way, the state leadership in which Belarra acts as number 1 and Montero as number 2, guarantees stability in these territories after several turbulent months due to the poor electoral results obtained in May, to which was added the unilateral decision of the leadership to break with Sumar in the Congress of Deputies.
Irene Montero will be the Podemos candidate in the next European elections after sweeping primaries in which the official list has had no rival and in which it has obtained 30,581 of the 36,504 votes cast. 84.8%.
The participation figure is lower than the party’s last consultation regarding investiture support, where 55,000 registered voters voted, but higher than the process to endorse the party’s last strategic document last November, which mobilized 31,000 registered voters.
The victory of the official candidate has not been without controversy since the two alternative lists that included, the currents in conflict with the leadership, were finally annulled for, supposedly, failing to comply with the parity criteria. Arguments that those affected call “false and deceitful.”
As Belarra herself has summarized, Montero will therefore be in charge of “putting on its feet” the political project that represents the “nonconformist left” and that they are going to “give their all” to once again carry the voice of We can in Europe.
Regarding the election of new regional coordinators, the predictions have been fulfilled with the victory of various leaders related to the Executive whose urgent mission is to relaunch the party at the most delicate moment since its founding.
The regional and municipal elections in May deepened the territorial weakness of Podemos by turning the party into an extra-parliamentary force in Madrid, the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands, together with the strong decline in representation in the Balearic Islands, Aragon and Asturias.
This electoral setback also meant the loss of all of its regional governments in which it had a presence, except Navarra where it has its only regional councilor. Meanwhile, at the state level, the party is trying to assert its four deputies in Congress and gain parliamentary relevance, given that it is no longer part of the coalition Executive.
