Alvaro Carvajal Madrid

Madrid

Updated Saturday, January 27, 2024-00:06

  • Politics The 'number three' of Podemos, Lilith Verstrynge, resigns by surprise, leaving the party with one less deputy in Congress

The until now

number three

of Podemos,

Lilith Verstrynge

, announced yesterday her sudden departure from the Organization Secretariat of the party. She becomes the latest victim of a cursed position in the national leadership, in which for one reason or another those responsible for her end up exhausted and unable to complete their cycles, shaken by the turbulent internal life of the formation.

The departure of

Verstrynge

, whom Ione Belarra wished would take care of himself to be "well", is a double blow for Podemos. On the one hand, it loses one of its political pillars. On the other hand, she also leaves the record of deputy, which will make Sumar recover that seat for Barcelona. Thus, the purple ones go from five to four parliamentarians and those of

Yolanda Díaz

rise to 27 with

Candela López.

This goodbye, for which the person involved has not given any explanation, has come in a week of special shock because it has highlighted the degree of distance between

Pablo Iglesias

and

Juan Carlos Monedero

, the only two founders of the party who remain in their ranks and that today they are more separated than ever. It is a circumstance that deepens the

bunkerization

in which the national leadership and its satellites find themselves. The circle has become so small that fewer and fewer people can enter it. Not even someone who was so close to Iglesias. And the emeritus leader of Podemos decided to kick Monedero off his television and cancel his program after he expressed in an interview on EL MUNDO his criticism of Canal Red's drift as a "party organ."

In the midst of digesting this episode, Verstrynge

's surprising departure took place

. It is confirmed that the Podemos Organization Secretariat is an unstable position and in which those responsible end up burning out before their time amid so many conflicts.

Podemos turned 10 on January 17, however, it has had Secretary of Organization as such since November 2014. That is, just over nine years. In that time there have been four people in charge of the device:

Sergio Pascual, Pablo Echenique, Alberto Rodríguez and Verstrynge

. Except for Echenique, everyone has left ahead of time. The first was dismissed suddenly and the Canarian resigned and abandoned his militancy. Before all of them,

Miguel Urbán

and

Miguel Bermejo

assumed this facet at different stages and in that order until they reached the European elections and the Vistalegre congress, from which the first Iglesias Executive emerged.

The messages from

Ione Belarra

and

Irene Montero

yesterday pointed to the need to "take care of oneself" as the cause of the resignation. Now the fundamental thing is that you take care of yourself and that you are well. We can always be your home. Thank you for so much work in such difficult conditions,” said the general secretary. «The priority now is you. We love you and we will continue walking together,” wrote the Political Secretary and number two. Likewise,

Podemos

sources stressed that having been in charge of the negotiations with Sumar was "a very demanding task that has been carried out under very difficult conditions."

And now that? Belarra will have to choose a new tenant for the most unstable chair. The challenge is to continue with the organizational rearmament in the territories after the disarray of positions after the regional and municipal elections of 2023. The party is in primaries electing the regional leaderships of

Madrid, Catalonia, Valencian Community, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Asturias, Canary Islands and Murcia

.