More than a month has passed since the deadline that Podem Euskadi and Sumar had given themselves to reach a coalition agreement for the Basque elections, the chances of an agreement are practically nil and the two formations are already preparing to face the pre-campaign independently. Sumar yesterday presented an agreement with Ezker Anitza-IU and Equo Berdeak to run jointly in the elections, with
as a candidate Podemos, meanwhile, closed the internal primary process on Friday and launched the candidacy of Miren Gorrotxategi.
Although neither of the two formations has taken the step of closing the contacts for a hypothetical electoral alliance, both are already focusing on preparing the story that explains why the agreement has not been possible. No one wants to appear as the person responsible for this division in the middle of the pre-campaign and an exchange of accusations is expected as an appetizer of a campaign in which they will compete for the same electorate to obtain representation in the Basque Parliament. Separately, no survey gives them more than one or, at most, two representatives in the Basque Parliament (out of a total of 75); there are polls that even suggest that the two formations could be left out of the Chamber. Eight years ago they got eleven parliamentarians and, in 2020, a total of six.
The possibility of being left out of the Basque legislature in case they present themselves separately was the main incentive for the agreement. In November, when the talks intensified, there was some optimism and they gave themselves until the end of the year to reach an agreement. In December, however, the gulf that exists between Podemos and Sumar in Spain as a whole became visible. At the beginning of the month, the deputies of the lilac formation moved to the mixed group in the Congress of Deputies and before the end of the year the Podemos militancy aborted an electoral alliance in Galicia.
In the Basque Country, in addition, the negotiation had to face the peculiarity that on one side of the table sat the current management of Podemos and, on the other, their predecessors at the head of the formation, defeated by the first in some primaries in 2020 and now in the direction of Sumar in Euskadi. The positions were far from the start and, against all odds, the poor electoral prospects have not been enough to bring an agreement closer.
Podemos announced on Monday that it would start “campaigning with its candidates”, without waiting for the agreement, and on Friday closed the primary process in Vitoria-Gasteiz, proclaiming Gorrotxategi as the candidate. At the same time, Sumar announced that he had reached a pre-agreement with Ezker Anitza-IU and Equo-Berdeak to run jointly in the elections.
They presented them yesterday and, although they invited “more organizations” to join, the truth is that, in practice, the event was a precursor to the total breakdown of the negotiations. In fact, Gorrotxategi pointed out that the pact surrounding Sumar is “a step against unity” and pointed out that “state logic is being prioritized”. Both know that there is no more room.
