The malaise against the leadership shakes Podemos: "Where they campaigned to sack we have been left out"

The disastrous results of the regional and municipal elections have plunged Podemos into a shock. From the stupor of the count, it has gone to anger and now pessimism about the future is spreading. The internal chats of officials and militants burn with comments critical of the national leadership, because 28-M has shaken the foundations of a party that has disappeared from the main institutions where it was founded in 2014.. For this reason, in the reflections of the people consulted, it is pointed out that there is no other option than to “press” to achieve confluence with Sumar because “there is no other option”.

“This direction does not give more than itself”, points out a member of the formation, which draws attention that where leaders such as Ione Belarra or Irene Montero “went to sack to campaign” Podemos has remained “outside” of the institutions. “There is a direct relationship,” he says.. It expressly alludes to the cases of the Community of Madrid and the Valencian Community, where the presence of the purple dome was reiterated due to the strategic importance given to these squares. Places that now more crudely symbolize the depth of the debacle.

Despite the disaster, other internal sources consulted are “shocked” by the lack of self-criticism in the party and by the flight forward. “It already happened in 2016 and 2019,” they recall, when the large loss of votes was not noted, but rather continued as if there were no course to correct.

In this case, the electoral advance has led to a lifeline for the purple leaders because the debate on “what happened” has been changed to open another on the confluence with Sumar. Therefore, reflections on the causes are being left in the background.. However, critical messages circulate among militants and officials.

This happens with acidity in Madrid, which has been one of the places where controversial decisions have been made. To begin with, due to the breaking of the pact in Rivas against the will of the militants and in Fuenlabrada, turning both places into an internal powder keg.. To continue, because of the aggressive campaign that ended up overshadowing the star issue of the candidate, housing.

“It does not make any sense how the campaign has been structured,” points out a formation official, who is opposed to the “aggressive” confrontational policy against Isabel Díaz Ayuso. “We have given him the option of building a story,” says another member of Podemos.

And, to this situation, is added the intervention of the national leadership in the rupture in Rivas, a historical bastion of the left where the PP has won in the regional and municipal elections. “It was warned that unity was essential, but nobody listened. All for being in the middle of the negotiation with Yolanda,” a source told this newspaper.. “Anyone would say that our objective was to harm the progressive block,” sums up a second source who assesses what happened in the Community of Madrid as “a disaster” and warns that now “we can go down the same path” as Ciudadanos.

The situation in Fuenlabrada, where several militants locked themselves up before the elections in the municipal headquarters in protest against the decisions of the regional leadership, has not helped the electoral process either.. “We have lost the essence of what this party was, where the circles had something to say,” sources point out after the elections where the two Podemos councilors have disappeared. “People are tired of these disputes and stop voting for you,” concludes a party post.