The secrecy of Podemos with the meeting of its leadership unleashes nerves in the territories

Podemos meets its State Citizen Council this Saturday in the face of the uncertainty of national and regional leaders, who will attend this meeting just 48 hours after the deadline to register the lists for the 23-J elections. Management sources maintain that it is a “politically necessary” call for the party's highest body, which has not met since the day before Yolanda Díaz launched her candidacy for Moncloa (April) and has not even been called after the debacle of 28-M, in which the purple ones were extinguished in a good part of the regional and municipal map. Several territories had demanded this appointment, which comes a week after the executive claimed and obtained full powers from the militancy to manage the pact with Sumar, which the formation has tried to amend after signing it.

Today, from different territories, but also state leaders, they affirm that they are unaware of the objectives of the leadership in this meeting, beyond the evidence that it is necessary to debate the two electoral appointments, the past and the future. Officially, the purple dome does not even reveal the names of the eight candidates for the Congress of Deputies who will enjoy starting positions, those who will foreseeably win a seat, and who do confirm forces present in the negotiation. Only two of them, Roberto Uriarte (first for Álava) and Pilar Garrido (first for Gipuzkoa) are outside Belarra's hard core, something that already generates discomfort with their management. The rest of the positions, they insist, are even more open to changes, something that Sumar denies..

They also criticize Díaz, who some leaders warn that he is “influencing the error of demobilizing the” purple bases, “by distributing secondary positions.”. And there are voices that continue to warn of the ruling that means dispensing with Irene Montero on the lists, an extreme that Sumar considers more than settled, but that for several purple leaders leads to an increase in abstention: “Without Irene, there is no Government”, summary from one of the territories.

“Formally”, they clarify from the top, there is “nothing to endorse”, but they do see it as essential to debate after the negotiations with Sumar, which still today keep the left tense after two weeks of nerves, leaks and accusations. “The lists are being finalized, we will have to report,” another leader abounds. There are those who suggest that Montero could take the opportunity to step aside and assume that he will be left off the lists, but also those who maintain that, despite how emphatically Sumar is publicly shown, the political death of the party cannot be taken for granted. still Minister of Equality. They are a minority, but other leaders warn that Podemos has the option of leaving the confluence, fatally wounding Sumar at the last minute.

The general diagnosis, even among those who acknowledge the management's anger with Díaz, is that they will not make this movement: the Moncloa polls gave them between 5 and 7% of the votes to run separately, affirms a veteran housewife, but this was before the tsunami of 28-M. It is a dead end, the leadership insists: they have signed and will go with Sumar, although they will continue to demand the inclusion of the Minister of Equality. The distribution of positions and resources (Podemos takes 23% of the subsidies from the Ministry of the Interior) is known in detail by the leadership of Belarra, who was the one who managed all the springs. And the uncertainty spreads.

For her part, Montero has been missing from public life since before 28-M, without interviews or statements to the media.. Beyond the appearance after the consultation with the militancy, last Friday, when he read a speech in a venue closed to the media, Belarra has not had any more public agenda than an act in his ministry, a video pressing the PSOE with the measures to be included in the extension of the social shield and a letter sent at dawn to its militants. Without her face or her voice.

The dome went from going out in a rush to demanding their presence on the lists, with Pablo Iglesias at the helm, to almost remaining silent. There has been pressure from LGTBI groups in favor of Montero (some, aligned with the purple ones), but no more appearances before the media. Sumar sources maintain that there have been no new negotiations on Montero, and recall that this option is no longer on the table: “We have the best candidates”, “we are in another phase”, the brand new Sumar spokesman cleared on Thursday , Ernest Urtasún.

“The rage felt by the militancy”, the concern about the positions on the Sahara of the number two of Díaz, Agustín Santos, or the fact that the announced signings are politically in tune with the PSOE, more than with this space on the left, are some of the concerns of leaders who, beyond the pressures to come together with Sumar, have closed ranks around the leadership. If the intention of the left was to leave everything closed and registered this Friday, everyone assumes that the calls and pulses will extend, again, until the last day, Monday. Immediately after, they will have to work to excite the electorate, something that they have not been able to do in these three weeks, and that seems increasingly difficult.