Race for a unitary list to the left of the PSOE: how are the negotiations going?

A few days after the legal deadline set by the Central Electoral Board for the registration of coalitions (Friday, October 16), the political forces on the left of the PSOE want to articulate the final configuration for the November 29 general election. The main debate at the moment is the Broad Front project and the bilateral collaboration between Podemos and the Catalan Republican Left (ERC).

The joint proposal of the Broad Front consists of the Sumar Movement, the United Left (IU), Mas Madrid and Catalunya en Comú (Comuns). On this list, the former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau will be the candidate for the Presidency of the Government.

For its part, Podemos has refused to join the structure of this unitary list and its candidate, Irene Montero, has ratified the strategic pact with the ERC spokesman, Gabriel Rufián, which provides that in Catalonia the purple formation will not present its own lists and will be integrated into the Republican voting lists, while Rufian will actively participate in the Montero campaign outside Catalonia.

Open contacts

Despite their estrangement, talks between the two blocs remain in place. We can invite the forces of the Broad Front to join their territorial alliance with ERC or reach agreements to merge into specific constituencies. Rufian, for his part, has called for a broad left-wing front in Catalonia and called on his party and the Comuns group to reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, the Broad Front has called for unity to propose a single ballot. In this regard, on Tuesday, Colau calledon ERC and Podemos to negotiate a single candidacy, which he said is possible and "necessary to stop fascism in the next election."