PABLO Iglesias, leader of the left-wing, anti-austerity Unidas Podemos (United we Can), who stood down as Spanish vice-president to contest elections for the Madrid Assembly, is quitting politics after that body shifted to the political right.
He founded Podemos seven years ago, shaping it as a left-wing alternative to the socialist PSOE, but after the results from Tuesday’s poll, he said he was regarded as a political figure who could not contribute to growing the party.
He fronted the Madrid campaign to avoid his party losing all of its seats and succeeded, with a three-seat gain from seven to 10.
However, he said: “I am proud to have led a political project that has changed the history of our country, and to have brought our ideas back, excluded for 80 years, to the Council of Ministers.
“I will stay committed to this country, but I do not want to block a renovation of leadership. When a person is no longer useful, they have to know when to quit.”
Iglesias was speaking after Isabel Díaz Ayuso, from the Peoples Party (PP) won a resounding victory with 65 seats – four short of an absolute majority and up from 35 in 2019 – displacing the unionist Citizens Party from the assembly.
She will be invested in the coming weeks, most likely with the support of the far-right Vox, which becomes a power broker after increasing its tally from 11 to 13 seats.
“Freedom has prevailed,” she said after her landslide.
Described as “Trumpian” by Iglesias, Ayuso has been the regional president of Madrid since 2019, and secured her place after becoming a symbol of the opposition against tight Covid-19 restrictions.
She was against closing its borders shortly after the outbreak started and kept bars and restaurants open while Catalonia and other parts closed them or restricted their opening times. That put her on a collision course with PSOE leader and Spanish president Pedro Sanchez, who was involved in early campaigning in Madrid, when he confronted Ayuso over her handling of the pandemic in a face-to-face meeting.
That backfired in the polls and Sanchez retreated, leaving it to PSOE candidate Angel Gabilondo, who managed to notch up the party’s worst result in Madrid. Citizens lost 30 of their 36 seats in the Catalan elections in February, but the Madrid result was the worst of the night – they lost all 26 of their seats from 2019.
Edmundo Bal, their candidate for the Madrid presidency, said they would run in the region’s next elections in 2023, and he “will return to government”.
As the defeated party leaders curled away to lick their wounds, Iglesias handed over the mantle of the left wing to Yolanda Diaz, whom he appointed to succeed him as vice-president two months ago. She “will determine the future of Spain’s left-wing in the coming years”, he said.
Ayuso will need support from Vox to govern and their leader Santiago Abascal, has celebrated the defeat of what he called the “popular front” in Madrid.
And he is ambitious for his party: “Vox has settled throughout the national territory [Spanish], is getting better and better results, has been consolidated in all regions, from the Basque Country to Andalusia, Catalonia – with an extraordinary result in Madrid. Vox is still changing the political cycle, leaving everyone heading for the general elections … and be the country’s leading force.”
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