The future of Podemos is already being debated among its bases.
The IV State Citizen Assembly concludes this weekend to determine the succession of Pablo Iglesias and choose who will head the formation in the coming years.
A meeting that faces the complex challenge of turning the page of hyper-leadership and dependence on the former secretary general to make way for Ione Belarra.
After years with an absolute weight and influence, it has been striking how the figure of Iglesias has tiptoed through the congress, practically unnoticed.
Just a couple of isolated mentions of the official candidacy and a critical candidacy, during the highlight of the day, the interventions and presentations of the candidates.
On the part of Belarra's candidacy, it was
Pablo Fernández
who recalled "the generosity, courage and bravery" of the former vice president of the Government.
In the two mentions, the ovation has resounded in the amphitheater.
Nothing more.
Since the critical candidacy of
Esteban Tettamanti
it has been even more explicit and affectionate: "Nobody deserves an applause like Pablo Iglesias"; "We love you and we vindicate you," he said in reference to the
purple
leader up to now
, who is not expected to attend the relay step precisely so as not to "protect" the new stage resulting from the voting.
A grandstand that is new for the Podemos Assembly: the
Paco de Lucía de Alcorcón Auditorium
has dressed in a
purple
agora
for the occasion, and only several hundred militants have come to hear this Saturday the proposals of the three candidates for the general secretary.
Far from the thousands that practically filled Vistalegre in the early stages of the game.
The heat and the pandemic have meant that only half of the amphitheater squares have been occupied.
It is expected that on Sunday, which is when the results will be communicated, the presence will increase.
Belarra's absence
The presentation of the political and ethical program of the official candidacy has had a surprise: the favorite to lead Podemos, Belarra, has not intervened to present its guidelines.
The time has been distributed among various members of his candidacy:
Isa Serra, Pablo Fernández, Javier Sánchez Serna and Lilith Verstrynge
have been in charge of taking the floor.
In fact, Belarra herself was not present during the speeches of the rest of the candidates.
Why this cast of voices?
Belarra's commitment is to promote the "corality" of the new Podemos, and the reinforcement of feminization and territorial decentralization.
This last point explains the intervention of Fernández and Sánchez Serna, coordinators of Podemos in Castilla y León and Murcia, respectively.
"We have the whole future ahead of us," Isa Serra acknowledged about the new stage that Podemos is facing shortly.
A chapter that Verstrynge has asked to assume "with hope" and claiming the "radical autonomy" of training during these years, outside and within the Government.
In this sense, Verstrynge has considered that Spain is "plural, different" and already "of legal age" to avoid tutelage: "We are ready to raise the debate on a republic", he said, a reflection that has raised the ovation of the public .
Militancy is, in the eyes of Pablo Fernández, what has sustained the spirit of Podemos since its appearance.
For this reason, he has asked those enrolled to take "muscle" to ensure the success of their policies: "As long as Podemos has militancy, they will never defeat us."
The challenge of mobilizing the rank and file must be achieved through more solidly rooting the party at the territorial level.
All the candidates agree on this.
Fernández, representing Belarra, has expressed the need to develop "with great force" the party's regional structures and ally with "sister political forces."
Critics: "The alternative has been ignored"
The two critical candidacies with the direction of the formation have charged against the organization and internal management of the party in recent years, as well as with the transparency in the formation's accounts.
Fernando Barredo
has defined the participatory process as a "camouflaged cacicada" and has criticized that the official list, led by Ione Belarra, has taken advantage of its position with institutional and public presence to campaign.
"The alternative has been ignored," he lamented.
"A blow is being perpetrated, as in the previous Assembly," has denounced Barredo, who has constantly stressed that this participatory system "is not democratic."
This was the moment of greatest tension of the entire session.
The critic, who has asked for "a little self-criticism", has been booed from the public with the cry of "traitor", "spokesman" or "scoundrel".
"Long live the freedom of expression in this party", has ironized on the whistles and insults received.
An "express assembly"
Esteban Tettamanti, councilor of the San Lorenzo de El Escorial City Council and head of the Podemos Horizontal candidacy, has reviewed the party's deficiencies, mainly territorial ones, and has made a harsh criticism against the leadership of the party that intends "with an express, tutelary assembly to the militants ".
Tettamenti has missed a debate, long claimed by the critical candidacies and denied by the management, and has regretted that, in its absence, the candidate from the official list, Ione Belarra, has not even gone to the Citizen Assembly to listen the proposals and criticisms of his opponents.
In this sense, Tettamenti has demanded that the Minister of Social Affairs and Agenda 2030 take "a step back so that the party takes two steps forward"
Podemos Horizontal claims the limitation of a single position, be it party or institutional;
that the members of the formation that enter the Government are not part of the management;
more transparency in expenses and income of the party that, they assure, have not been updated since 2018 and limitation of any salary to triple the minimum interprofessional salary.
Tettamanti has advocated opening a "constituent process in the party" because a large part of the militancy, he said, no longer feels like a participant in the organization that "is on the way to becoming a traditional force like any other."
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Know more
We can
Pablo Iglesias
Isabel Serra Sánchez
Spain
Murcia
Alcorcón
Ione Belarra
Irene Montero
Politics Ione Belarra confirms that she is presenting herself to be the new leader of Podemos with a continuity project
Politics Ione Belarra will compete with six other candidates to lead Podemos
More Wood Yolanda Díaz refused to relocate Juanma del Olmo, Iglesias' right-hand man, to his Vice Presidency
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