The internal war shakes the construction of Sumar: the common denounce that Podemos negotiates to go with ERC to the general elections

The war breaks out between Podemos and the commons. The confrontation between the hitherto allies shakes the negotiations for the construction of Sumar less than four days before the deadline to register the coalition expires. In Comú Podem denounces that the party headed by Ione Belarra is in talks with ERC to run together in the general elections on July 23, as Público has advanced and confirmed EL MUNDO from official sources of the formation.

ERC “categorically” denies this statement and ensures that “it is not in any open negotiation with Podemos to configure any list or coalition”. Official sources ask that the internal disputes of other formations “do not place them in interested leaks”. Well, they consider that this information is being used “to raise the price of their negotiation with Sumar”. For its part, Podemos has not yet officially responded.

Sources from En Comú Podem assure that it has been “the state leadership of Podemos” who has informed him “that it is negotiating with ERC to present itself in coalition to the general elections called for next July 23”. The commons received this news with “surprise” because this “negotiation” would be taking place in parallel to the one that is being held with Sumar.

These sources emphasize that comúns and Podemos already function in Catalonia as a “unitary space”, through which they jointly present themselves to all elections as En Comú Podem and under which they work in a “fluid” manner.. Hence the bewilderment.

The deadline for registering coalitions ends on Friday at 11:59 p.m.. Sumar is negotiating with fifteen parties, including the common ones, to come together for the general elections. Podemos is also sitting in those conversations.

The relationship between Podemos and the commons has been tense for some time. The distance between the two has grown as Ada Colau got closer to Yolanda Díaz and became one of the main pillars that support Sumar.

In parallel, the purples have been weaving an increasingly close relationship with ERC, to whom they permanently pay attention and praise despite the fact that it is one of the main competitors of Catalunya en Comú in the progressive space. Podemos considers the independence party as one of its strategic allies, along with EH Bildu, and there has even been a paradox that the purple leaders have supported the Republicans more than their negotiators in some cases, such as when ERC knocked down the reform of the gag law. Likewise, they were also sympathetic to the criticism made by the Republicans of Díaz's labor reform, against which they ended up voting against.

The leak of an alleged negotiation between Podemos and ERC has occurred just 12 hours after Pablo Iglesias put the commons in the trigger, whom he included in the group of parties that would be trying to sabotage the presence of purple leaders on the lists .

“There are three territories, where there are three political forces that are openly saying 'with Podemos, no': Madrid, the Valencian Community and Catalonia.. There are three parties of Madrid, Valencian and Catalan territorial scope (for Más Madrid, Compromís and Catalunya en Comú), which say 'here we alone'. As long as that is the case, as long as there are those who say I can do it myself and I don't need anyone else, it is very complicated,” the former secretary general of Podemos said yesterday in an intervention on Hora 25, de la Ser. In this way, Iglesias pointed to the commons as one of the formations that would be torpedoing unity, because they would be “going alone” in their respective constituencies.

This accusation by Iglesias has fallen like a bomb at a very delicate moment and has been denied this morning by the three aforementioned parties. More Madrid, Compromís and comunes deny that they are vetoing “nobody”. In this sense, sources from En Comú Podem are “surprised” because the words of the former secretary general “denote a lack of knowledge of the negotiations by someone who is not participating in them.”

In Más Madrid they are in the same. “We neither ask to lead lists nor veto anyone,” official sources say emphatically. For his part, the Compromís candidate for the Generalitat, Joan Baldoví, has stated in statements to Efe that he denies “categorically” that his formation has “vetoed anyone, much less Podemos”. “The same independence that we claim to put our candidates we also claim for the other organizations, so that they decide absolutely freely who have to be their representatives on the lists,” he has indicated.