The launch by the national leadership of Podemos of a new strategy to face the coming years has opened an internal debate about the relationship with Yolanda Díaz and the Sumar coalition. And that is going to give much more to talk about than what is currently reflected in the “political document” presented this Saturday by Ione Belarra, since from now on a process of amendments, analysis and voting begins that will culminate on November 4 , when then yes, once the endorsement of the bases has been obtained, the text is officially the new “roadmap” of the party.

In this context of reflection that has been launched, the co-founder of Podemos Juan Carlos Monedero has opened fire with a first question to debate and has thrown a question into the air to analyze: Should Podemos stand alone in the European elections? That is, attend separately from Sumar in the May 2025 appointment.

Monedero has raised this in an article published in Público in which he makes an extensive reflection on the situation of Podemos and the relationship it has with Sumar.. Thus, he indicated that there are “many topics to debate”. “Among others,” he points out, “if we should not go alone to the European elections, as a way of telling Sumar how much real support he has, with the risks that this implies.”

It does not delve further into it, but it leaves in the air whether it is a favorable terrain for a confrontation with Sumar in which both forces measure how much they really weigh.. It is understood, therefore, that to then reach a balance according to that proportion in the distribution of power within the coalition, where he considers that Sumar is not being fair with Podemos and in which he is committing “massive mistakes” such as leaving him without a spokesperson in the parliamentary group of Congress.

Monedero knows well the advantages of the European elections. Not in vain, as one of the five main promoters of Podemos in 2014, he knew how to read that those elections that are held with a single constituency are an opportunity because all votes are equally influential when it comes to obtaining seats.. Well, the distribution is proportional, without the distortion generated by the constituencies of a general election.. This is how Podemos managed to successfully open a gap with five MEPs despite the competition with Izquierda Unida, in its ideological space, and the PSOE.

A division of the alternative left in the European elections of May 2025 would not have a damage comparable to that which would occur in a general election, where the reissue of the coalition government with the PSOE would be seriously jeopardized.. Here, at most one or two seats could be lost in a European Parliament where the logic is very different due to the alliance between the popular and socialists on many issues.

The co-founder of Podemos invites the militancy to participate in this debate and raise others to “amend” the “deficit” with which the document promoted by Belarra and her team has started.. “The original debate document should have been done participatively,” he criticizes. However, he considers it positive that the party is going to assume a “political assembly” to reposition itself.. Also that it be open to internal participation, something that regrets that it is sometimes lacking.

Regarding the Podemos-Sumar relationship, Monedero recognizes the tensions and reviews the number of grievances that the Morados feel with Yolanda Díaz. “Sumar is, today, a shell that has not yet been provided with internal democracy, program or objectives, so it pivots around the figure of Yolanda Díaz. It stands out that it lacks the internal parliamentary balance that Unidas Podemos had.. Improvise and make mistakes. Leaving Izquierda Unida and Podemos without parliamentary spokespersons is, worse than a cacicada, a mistake. A big mistake. Just like denying the sovereignty that the different parties had in the previous legislature,” he writes in his article, where he presents 12 theses.

Monedero warns that Sumar “exists due to the existence of political and union organizations that, sooner or later, will demand respect for them”. Hence, he makes a prediction if the situation does not change: “This tension is quite likely to be resolved with the breakup of Sumar as an electoral coalition.”

In his analysis, Monedero focuses on the “disagreement” and the “bad conditions” in which Podemos had to join Sumar and expresses the distance that “purple voters and militants” have felt since then.. ” Podemos was much more responsible than Sumar, which gave the impression that it was pushing Podemos towards the solitary path,” he says.

“It would be necessary for Sumar to also correct his starting mistakes. A Broad Front must have a democratic functioning, and the importance of the different forces must correspond to what each party really has.. The primaries are a democratic reference, and Sumar's refusal to hold primaries takes him more towards old politics than new places. In the same way, in a Broad Front the different parties are sovereign. It is evident that the main parties of Sumar, that is, Podemos and Izquierda Unida, must have female ministers – Podemos was born with the will to govern – and it is up to the parties to choose who should occupy that place,” he points out.. “The opposite would be a fraud on internal democracy and would continue to widen the gap.”

For Monedero, broad fronts require “generosity and breadth of vision”, since “unity is not achieved by swallowing things”. The co-founder of Podemos also leaves this reflection: “Anyone who is weighed down excessively by personal phobias should go home.”. “It does not have enough entity to carry out high-level politics.”