The election of the territorial senator that corresponds to Compromís has opened an internal crisis in the coalition that cannot be ruled out as a trigger for a total break between its two main members. The decision of the nationalist leg Més to relieve Carles Mulet, of the eco-socialist Iniciativa del Poble Valencià party, and replace him with Enric Morera, former president of the Valencian Parliament, has brought to the surface tensions accumulated for months within the Valencian supporters.
Mulet, one of the most active senators in the Upper House, had accumulated two legislatures and aspired to a third. Iniciativa interpreted that based on the internal electoral protocol for the regional elections (which sets a distribution of representation of 60% for Més, 35% for Iniciativa and 5% for Verds Equo) it was up to her to designate the senator, which is why the On Monday, the deputy spokeswoman, Aitana Mas, came to present a group proposal to the Board of the regional Chamber so that the current senator could once again be elected as regional representative.
The initiative was disavowed by the spokesman Joan Baldoví, who forced an internal vote among the deputies in which the nationalist majority of parliamentarians imposed the name of Morera, a historic position that the bases of the Més itself had left out of the regional lists in the Compromís primary process despite having held the presidency of the autonomous Parliament for eight years, the second position in order of institutional protocol of the Valencian Community. More interprets that after the result of the general elections on July 23, in which the co-spokespersons of Compromís, Àgueda Micó (More) and Alberto Ibáñez (Iniciativa) won a seat in the coalition with Sumar, it was up to the majority formation to occupy the post of the Senate.
In this crossroads of conflicting interpretations of the system of internal balances, months of disagreements have emerged within Compromís since the resignation of Mónica Oltra as vice president and de facto political leader of the organization. Despite having far fewer militants and a smaller organization than Més', Oltra's leadership compensated from its inception for the organic asymmetry of Compromís. His departure has led Més to occupy more and more spaces, a phenomenon that has become more evident with the loss of regional and municipal power, after the elections on May 28, as the institutional cake has shrunk.
1/2 . I'm leaving the Senate tomorrow. It has been a brutal experience. Thanks to whoever made it possible. pic.twitter.com/sgbe8UevAP
– Carles Mulet Garcia (@carlesmulet) July 26, 2023
With fewer charges to hand out, tensions have escalated. Without Oltra, Més has imposed its organic majority with Joan Baldoví as speaker in the Cortes, Àgueda Micó as leader of the list in Congress or María Josep Amigó as representative in the Bureau of the Autonomous Parliament. Adding regional and provincial deputies, both from Congress and, now, Senator Morera, the Initiative numbers show a distribution of political positions of 67.37% for Més, compared to 24.21% for Initiative, very far from what they interpret should be the 60/35/5 that marks the internal balance. “There is a lot of boredom. After the exit of Oltra, there has been a change in the ways of exercising the relationship of the Bloc (previous name of More). Some have interpreted as weakness what for us are expressions of wanting to relate through friendship,” say Iniciativa sources. “One of the parties has decided to take over the whole of Compromís, they reiterate.
“Very serious events have happened that break trust, because Més decided to break an agreement. A deep reflection is needed on what Compromís model they want”, declared Alberto Ibáñez, from Iniciativa, to the regional television A Punt.
“If Més had won a seat for Alicante, the Morera thing would not have even been considered. It is the Initiative that is misinterpreting the internal functioning”, they respond from the nationalist wing, which attributes the internal revolt to problems between families within the Initiative. “What has cost so many years to build cannot be destroyed in a moment,” they reproach.
The two parties blame each other for the fracture, which will be evident this Thursday in the vote of the senators in the Cortes with a probable abstention of the four Initiative deputies, including their deputy spokesperson Aitana Mas. It would be the first time that there has been an internal rupture in the vote. The atmosphere is heated among the ecosocialists, with voices that even propose a departure from the coalition and the exploration of an agreement with Yolanda Díaz to implement Sumar in the Valencian Community, which would imply a new fragmentation of the space to the left of the PSPV-PSOE.
The party of the acting Minister of Labor signed the confederal agreement with Compromís to jointly attend the general elections, but it does not have an organization as such in the Valencian territory. However, this crossing of relations between Sumar, Més and Iniciativa could be the antidote to the total break. For the nationalists, the link with those of Yolanda Díaz is the best remedy so that it does not become their competition in a local and regional key. Sources from Més even suggest that, in the event of Pedro Sánchez's investiture and the coalition government is reissued, the Valencianistas could even assume some governmental responsibility, although not a ministry. And in this scenario, Carles Mulet could continue contributing and find a new accommodation.