Frente Amplio still without candidate or Madrid list as 29 November vote nears

Election call and the coalition deadline

Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday that the next general election will be held on 29 November. The Frente Amplio, the alliance formed by Movimiento Sumar, Izquierda Unida, Comuns and Más Madrid, has not yet confirmed its candidate for the vote. Its coalitions must be communicated to the electoral board by Friday, 16 October, and the alliance has not yet closed arrangements with Podemos, Més or Chunta Aragonesista. Compromís has already said it will run with its own Valencian coalition. Yolanda Díaz founded Movimiento Sumar in 2023, and eldiario.es describes it as the smallest partner in the alliance.

The Madrid and Barcelona list fight

The dispute centres on the Madrid and Barcelona constituencies, which eldiario.es describes as the most valuable because they offer the most seats that will almost certainly become seats. According to eldiario.es, the clash is mainly between Más Madrid and Comuns. EL MUNDO describes Más Madrid as the dominant territorial force in Madrid, and says it wants to lead and compose that candidacy while the other partners want places there and room for Podemos. EL MUNDO called Madrid a "polvorín" (powder keg) that threatens to explode. On Wednesday evening, Más Madrid proposed that Ada Colau head the list in Barcelona and that Health Minister Mónica García take the first place in Madrid, according to El Periódico. EL PAÍS reports that this formula would move Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun to second place. Izquierda Unida objected to the way the proposal was made, warning that "candidacies, names and election mechanisms must be part of a global, democratic and shared agreement."

Colau's conditions and Podemos's primaries

Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona from 2015 to 2023 according to EL PAÍS, broke her silence on Thursday and said she was willing to lead the new space. She set conditions, saying the candidacy must be "really broad" and include Podemos, Més and Compromís. "To repeat previous experiences, I am not necessary," she said, according to La Vanguardia. In a TVE interview she also said:

If we are all here, I will be too.

Jéssica Albiach, a Comuns leader, said her party would do "everything possible" for Podemos to join the Frente Amplio so that voters have "one ballot" on 29 November, and that she would "love" to see Colau head the list. Antonio Maíllo of Izquierda Unida called for a federal approach and a "project for the country" rather than a simple sum of territorial parties. Podemos did not move, and it still conditions any deal on open primaries on 14 and 15 October. Irene Montero, the party's expected candidate, insisted that the list must be chosen by a vote of the members.

The only way to reach agreements is through primaries.

Movimiento Sumar's call and the housing message

On Friday, Movimiento Sumar broke its silence with a statement calling on its partners to "sit down to talk and cooperate with discretion and generosity." The party said it had kept quiet in recent days to maintain the discretion any dialogue requires, and that it would not comment on candidates or methods. It also said its bases had backed its candidate to lead the party within the Frente Amplio with 98% support, though it is not yet clear whether that person will receive a winnable place on a list. Pablo Bustinduy, a minister who belongs to no party and declined to run for the presidency of the government, called the election a "referendum on the right to housing" and said the left's mandate is "housing, housing and housing." He urged voters not to trust polls that present the outcome as inevitable, and said he is "absolutely convinced" the left can win. The proposed primaries on 14 and 15 October fall one day before the 16 October filing deadline.