The various left-wing state formations will be very attentive to what happens on December 21 in Extremadura. The coalition led by Irene de Miguel has serious possibilities to improve its results in the last elections and reverse a general downward trend in the progressive space. The idea of the coalition, however, is to do it in an area very close to the territory and although there are heads of state from the formations that make up the alliance, for the first time Sumar’s ministers will not participate in campaign events.
At least that is the intention of the parties that form the United for Extremadura coalition, which includes Podemos, Izquierda Unida and Alianza Verde. The calendar of demonstrations has already been closed and approved and, as campaign sources confirm to the newspaper, it does not include demonstrations by the various ministers of the government’s minority partner. The general coordinator of IU, Antonio Maíllo, and the main leaders of Podemos, Ione Belarra and Irene Montero, will be present.
United for Extremadura comes to the elections in a good starting position. Polls predict significant growth compared to the May 28 regional elections. Irene de Miguel manages to capture part of the collapse of the socialists and according to the Center for Sociological Research (CIS), she could have seven seats, three more than she obtained in 2023 and also in previous elections. Most surveys also paint optimistic scenarios for the coalition.
If the poll forecasts are confirmed, the news would be very good for the space of the alternative left, previously mentioned by Unidas Podemos and now disputed by Sumar and the Belarra party: for many years, with each opening of the polling stations, their support has been decreasing. This happened in the 2018 and 2019 general elections and also in 2023, with Sumar, as well as in most territories. The only exception is perhaps that of Más Madrid in the Autonomous Assembly, which until now has continued to rise in every election.
The hemorrhage was very pronounced in the regional elections of 28M, where Podemos and IU fell in most places and disappeared from the Community of Madrid and the Comunitat Valenciana, but Sumar and Podemos also did not succeed separately in the elections that took place since 23J. In Galicia, no party managed to enter Parliament and in Euskadi, only the coalition of Yolanda Díaz obtained a seat. Elkarrekin Podemos, in the previous elections, had six. The Comuns lost two seats in 2024 and Sumar and Podemos separately ended up with five (three and two respectively), one seat less than Unidas Podemos obtained in the previous election.
This is why the case of Extremadura is very important for the state left and this perhaps explains the kind of open struggle between the groups to contest the benefits of a possible good result. Podemos has already made it clear that if things work out on December 21, the explanation is simple: a candidacy led by them, which maintains the spirit of what Unidas Podemos was and in which Sumar is not involved.
Meanwhile, within Yolanda Díaz’s party, Movimiento Sumar, led by Lara Hernández, in recent days they have tried to claim their presence in a coalition in which they have neither signature nor formal presence and will not participate in the distribution of resources. The party speaks of the 22nd position of the candidacy being that of Alba Martín Navarro, a representative of the student movement who appears on the lists as independent. “We want to send all our support to Irene de Miguel and to the candidacy of Unidas por Extremadura. From Movimiento Sumar we have put at your service our organizational device to ensure that change reaches Extremadura, also being part of its electoral lists,” Hernández said this Monday during a press conference after the party leadership meeting.
Beyond this testimonial position, which appears on the lists as independent, the Movimiento Sumar is not present in a coalition led by Podemos, Izquierda Unida and Alianza Verde. In fact, the Extremadura alliance confirms that Sumar’s ministers will not attend campaign events, an unprecedented fact until now, since at least Yolanda Díaz and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, had participated in all elections.
The sources of the second vice president do not give details on this point and leave the presence of Díaz in what the parties decide, while the entourage of the spokesperson for Movimiento Sumar affirms that they are still studying the participation of Urtasun. The same information comes from sources in the department headed by Sira Rego, the only minister of a party, Izquierda Unida, present in Unidas por Extremadura.
But in the Extremadura coalition there is talk of a closed calendar and there are no events with any of them at the moment. Sources close to the head of Health, Mónica García, predict that it is very likely that she will not participate in the campaign and to the Ministry of Social Rights, of Pablo Bustinduy, they do not specify what she will do, but they convey their support to the candidate, Irene de Miguel.
“I think the left has an extraordinary candidate, who is Irene de Miguel, who I have known for a long time and I think the candidacy of Unidas por Extremadura will surprise and achieve an extraordinary result,” Bustinduy said this Friday in statements to the media.
“It doesn’t matter who we vote for or to whom we entrust responsibility for the management of public affairs. We saw it in Madrid with the residences, in Castile and León with the fires, in Andalusia with the projections, we saw it this last shameful year in the Valencian Community. Unidas por Extremadura presents a program with a strong defense of public and social services. Today I ask for the vote for the candidacy of Unidas por Extremadura and Irene de Miguel”, reaffirmed the Minister of Add.
Although Podemos maintains its strategy of total confrontation with everything that Sumar represents, in Yolanda Díaz’s coalition they maintain good relations with the leader of the Extremadura party, who on several occasions has criticized the state leadership precisely because of its strategy of confrontation with Sumar. De Miguel, in any case, remained faithful to the acronym and did not choose to abandon the training as happened with the leaders of other territories and, in fact, continues to be part of the State Executive.
Acts of Belarra, Montero and Maíllo
Those who will participate in the campaign will be the state leaders of Izquierda Unida and Podemos. Irene Montero and Ione Belarra have already visited Extremadura and both have an event this Saturday in Plasencia with De Miguel. The secretary general of Podemos is also expected to return to the territory on Monday.
Meanwhile, Maíllo will travel to Extremadura in the countryside, Sunday 14 and Monday 15 December. He will first participate in an event in Montijo with De Miguel and Nerea Fernández, the IU candidate on the lists. And in the afternoon you will visit the Torremayor Town Hall, a historic town hall for the party. The next day he will travel to Miajadas, where he will participate in a rural table convened by the main agricultural organizations.
There will therefore not be, and if nothing changes, a joint photo in the campaign of the leaders of Podemos and Maíllo, at a time when relations between them are the coldest since the leader of the IU took command of the formation.
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