If there's anything to which you can compare the tense relationship between Spanish deputy PM Yolanda Díaz's new political platform, which has smugly given itself the name of Sumar - "join forces" - and the Podemos of Pablo Iglesias, Irene Montero, Pablo Echenique, etcetera, it is the relationship maintained in Catalonia between the two pro-independence parties, Republican Left (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts). In any case, there is one difference: unlike the two Catalan rivals, the Spanish left wing groups know how much is at stake and, although there are only four days left until electoral coalitions for Spain's snap election must be registered, it is hard to think that, even if at the last minute, they will not end up reaching agreement.
The polls published for the July 23rd election make it very clear: without such an agreement on the left of the Spanish Socialists (PSOE), then on the right, the People's Party (PP) and Vox will have a clear path to the Moncloa government palace. This does not mean that a Podemos-Sumar agreement will cause the majority of PP and Vox to fall. Rather, it is an essential condition in order for those left-wing parties to have life. Yolanda Díaz is taking advantage of this, and, more than seeking a coalition agreement with Podemos, she is directly pursuing the surrender of the party that Pablo Iglesias once led.
Díaz, second deputy PM as well as labour and social economy minister, intends to moderate the discourse to the left of the PSOE, something that is not to the liking of Podemos. But the Sumar leader is determined on this strategy and for that reason she has little need for certain figures who are highly identified with the original anti-austerity party, such as minister Irene Montero, a fact that Pablo Iglesias himself has denounced from his political retirement. It is yet another striking example of the corrosive capacity of Pedro Sánchez with his partners in recent years: all of them, with the sole exception of the Basque leftists EH Bildu, have been devastated by his policies and his failure to keep his promises.
All of them, also with the sole exception of Bildu, have to rethink their strategy if they want to get out of the polling booths alive on July 23rd. Those in this juncture include the Basque Nationalists PNV and Catalonia's ERC who, for different reasons, await on the election runway with too much baggage in their holds. The case of Junts is not much more optimistic but it is very different and is related to the fact that the vote for their party has to do with its usefulness in Madrid and in the Spanish Congress.
Yolanda Díaz has just a few days left to settle her tussle with Podemos and to understand that when leadership lacks generosity it becomes impossible to bring all the players together. The point being that, up till now, she has been basically a political leader with multiple media connections that have helped place her in the centre of the chessboard. Now comes the hardest part, which is combating all the difficulties around her and getting out alive.