The blow came in the wake of announcement by the United Left (IU) and Podemos parties that failed to reach an agreement during their talks. The project is aimed at reproducing formulas of alliance between left-wing parties and social movements that managed to beat the right wing forces in the municipal elections this year in important cities like Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza.
The idea also seemed to gain ground with forecasts that no party would win absolute majority in the polls of December 20 due to the low popularity of the traditional People's Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. The proposal was backed from the start by IU, the third party in Parliament, and Podemos, a booming organization in Spain with a program similar to that of the traditional left.
In a press release, IU reported that in the meeting held today "in a cordial atmosphere," there was surprise by the way Podemos closed unilaterally the door to the chance of popular unity. IU said the objective is facilitating the formation of a single social, political bloc for the general elections and a unity candidacy with participatory mechanisms like open primaries. In the opinion of the organization, a way out to the crisis can only be found by a rupture, feminist, ecologist program and a government that fights poverty, inequality and destitution caused by the economic crisis and the neoliberal administration.
In a separate communique, Podemos also declared the negotiations ended due to the IU presidential candidate Alberto Garzon's final rejection of the proposal for its joining a candidacy of the organization. According to Podemos, the structure of the popular unity candidacy must reflect a combination of willingness for change rather than simply legally mixing the acronyms of different organizations.
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