Ione Belarra to lead Podemos’s Madrid campaign, joining left-wing assault on Ayuso in 2027

Ione Belarra, the secretary general of Podemos and a deputy in the national parliament, declared on Saturday that she will lead the party’s candidacy for the Community of Madrid in the May 2027 regional elections. The announcement came during Podemos’s ‘Fiesta de la Primavera’ rally at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, before around 350 supporters.

A direct challenge to Ayuso

Belarra devoted much of her speech to attacking the current Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, calling her “that unbearable bad person” and vowing to “twist her arm once and for all.” She portrayed Madrid as the ideological battleground for the country.

“Ayuso is the ideological heart of this country. This fight must be fought with more strength.”

Fractures on the left

Belarra also criticised her potential allies. She dismissed the Socialist candidate, minister Óscar López, as a “fourth‑rate candidate” and accused the Más Madrid contender, health minister Mónica García, of having given up on winning. The three left‑of‑centre parties will face Ayuso separately.

“The PSOE only puts forward fourth‑rate candidates. Mónica García says things that sound good, but both have renounced beating Mrs Ayuso.”

Reaction from the government camp

Figures close to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who personally chose López for the Madrid race, reacted coolly. “Everything that isn’t unity to the left of the PSOE is not good news,” one source said. They insisted that a “vote for change” is needed and that it requires a strong, united left backing Sánchez’s national policies.

A repeat of Iglesias’s gamble

Belarra’s move mirrors the path taken in 2021 by her predecessor Pablo Iglesias, then Podemos leader and deputy prime minister. He entered the Madrid contest to save the party from extinction and won 10 seats, but resigned from politics the same night. Podemos was wiped out of the Madrid Assembly in 2023, taking only 4.7% of the vote and no seats. Belarra said she is driven by “rage” at the state of governance in Madrid and by the need to secure a future for her children.