• Cerro del Tío Pío The new bastion vallecano of the PP next to which Pablo Iglesias lived and in which Rita Maestre started her campaign: "it is logical that Ayuso wins"
  • 28-M sad 'Sorpasso' of Más Madrid and KO of Podemos

The electoral setback suffered by Podemos in the elections of the past 28-M, added to the electoral advance called by the current acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, a day after the regional and local elections, has left the economic structure of the purple formation in the Community of Madrid seriously damaged: without representation in the large hemicycles, without subsidies and with hundreds of creditors to whom it owes more than half a million euros.

To face the past regional and municipal elections in the Community, Podemos raised just over half a million euros in donations from its own affiliates through microcredits. A financing system similar to commercial crowdfunding in which private citizens lend money to the party for the electoral campaign and it then returns it after the elections thanks to the subsidies obtained by the political parties after the call to the polls.

And this is precisely where the problem of purples in Madrid lies. They have been left out of the two main chambers at stake (Cibeles and the Assembly of Entrevías) and with it, of much of the money in subsidies, since the Electoral Law requires a minimum threshold of 5% of the votes.

The Community of Madrid, the great economic hole of Podemos

With 4.73% of the votes in the regional elections, the formation headed by Alejandra Jacinto was 0.27% away from achieving representation. A few tenths that represent a significant economic hole for the accounts of the party, which had achieved 5%, the public treasury would have provided 154,000 euros in subsidies only for the number of deputies. An amount that, however, only represents the tip of the iceberg.

To this amount should be added the 489,832.99 euros per year received by each of the parliamentary groups in the Assembly (a fixed amount independent of the representation as a subsidy and maintenance of material means) to which is added a variable of 17,809.70 euros per regional deputy.

Fortunately for the party founded by Pablo Iglesias, the purple formation is entitled to the subsidy by number of votes, for which the legislation establishes a minimum threshold of 3% of the scrutiny. A rule that gives those of Alejandra Jacinto of 176,302.41 euros, at a rate of 1.11 euros per vote.

The City Council and general elections

Equally bitter, although less ruinous in economic terms, has been the defeat of the candidacy led by Roberto Sotomayor in the Madrid City Council. With 4.7% of the votes, he has been left out of the consistory and its associated perks.

A result that, if it had reached 5%, would give it a representation of 4 councilors, and an annual budget of 61,033 euros.

Likewise, having not obtained representation, Podemos cannot hire technical, communication or cabinet members whose costs are borne by the public coffers.

In previous elections, Podemos has always managed to meet, to a greater or lesser extent, electoral expectations and return the money from microcredits quickly. Historically, it has reinstated the amounts advanced by its affiliates in a few months after the elections.

Despite the electoral disaster, from the purple formation they transmit a message of tranquility and assure that they will settle their debts with the militancy. "They are going to be paid", they assure GRAN MADRID emphatically, while pointing out that it is "a priority issue" that they have "capacity to face".

In this way, Podemos has a year to return its debt of half a million euros to its hundreds of Madrid affiliates while facing a complicated negotiation with Yolanda Díaz and other parties to the left of the PSOE on integration into Sumar, the project led by the Galician that aspires to occupy the political space of the purples after its decline.


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  • PSOE
  • Yolanda Diaz
  • Community of Madrid
  • Pablo Iglesias
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