THE elections in Extremadura They are entering their home stretch. Extremadurans will go to the polls this Sunday, after early elections called in October by the “popular” María Guardiola due to the impossibility of achieving budgets. Without this progress, Extremadura residents would have returned to the polls in 2027, just like the majority of autonomous communities. Among the names that resonate the most to lead the new Junta government is that of Irene de Miguel, candidate of the United for Extremadura coalition (a confluence of Podemos, Izquierda Unida and Alianza Verde).
Miguel’s was second most appreciated candidate by Extremaduraeven among PSOE voters, who chose her over their regional leader Miguel Ángel Gallardo, according to a survey by the DYM Institute for 20 minutes. Despite this, she does not surpass the President of the Council and leader of the PP in the community, María Guardiola, who positioned herself as the most appreciated.
United for Extremadura has consolidated itself as the fourth political force, obtaining four seats in the 2023 regional elections, a position that Irene de Miguel intends to strengthen on December 21. Their formation could slightly increase to five or six deputies during these elections, according to the latest barometer from the DYM Institute.
In a political panorama which envisages a advance of the conservative bloc in the face of socialist declineIrene de Miguel will try to channel the left-wing vote most critical of the PSOE, which she accuses of a lack of coherence when it governs. In an interview given to The jumpthe candidate defends that her party is the “real” alternative to the “backpacks” of the Socialist Party, and accuses her by assuring that “no matter the good intentions she has in the campaign, when she arrives at the government, she has backpacks so big that she ends up succumbing to the policies of establishing the privileges of the economic powers of this country”.
Irene de Miguel is not from Extremadura, she was born in Madrid where she studied agronomic engineering at the Polytechnic University. After finishing his studies, he moved to the Las Villuercas region, in Cáceres, where he wanted to engage in a project that reflected his love for the countryside and started a fruit and vegetable nursery.
Her political career began within Podemos, notably in 2015, when she was elected deputy of this party in the Assembly of Extremadura. Since his arrival at the Autonomous Chamber, he has linked his political program to defense of the rural world, sustainable development and territorial cohesion.
Irene de Miguel was an important figure in the purple formation of Extremadura. Her organic weight was strengthened in 2020, when she was elected secretary general of Podemos Extremadura. Since then, she has played a central role in articulating the political training project in the community.
This weekend it will be the fourth time he participates in an election, being part of the lists in 2015, 2019 and 2023, and consolidating his parliamentary presence during three consecutive terms. She was a deputy for the province of Cáceres in the 9th Legislature with Podemos Extremadura and later for Badajoz in the 10th and 11th Legislatures, already integrated into the Unidas por Extremadura coalition.
Electoral commitments
Irene de Miguel defended proposals to improve working conditions and public services. He also announced measures to end the depopulation suffered by the community and seeks to support sustainability in Extremadura.
The Unidas candidate for Extremadura announced, at the beginning of this month, that if her party enters the autonomous government, she will propose the creation of a Department of Social Rights because “the system of care for the elderly and disabled people is deplorable”, as he justified it in a press release from his party. In addition, he pledged to “recover” and “establish” the law on historical memory of Extremadura.
Currently he is once again leading the Unidas por Extremadura candidacy for the province of Badajoz, with the aim of maintain the parliamentary representation of the coalition in an electoral scenario marked by fragmentation and competition between blocs. The people of Extremadura will be the ones who have the last word at the polls and will decide whether their political project continues to have its place within the Assembly of Extremadura.
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