Balearic election pact fails as Podemos blames left

Mallorca and the rest of Spain’s Balearic Islands have no election pact between Podemos and the parties of Frente Amplio for the 29 November general election: Irene Montero says those parties blocked advanced talks while pursuing a Senate deal with the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).

Montero, a Podemos candidate and Member of the European Parliament, made the accusation on Saturday 17 October at a party council meeting in Madrid, Spain. Podemos leader Ione Belarra said talks in the Balearics and Spain’s Aragón region had been far advanced. She said the Frente Amplio parties rejected open primaries and chose talks with the Socialists instead.

Montero said the split was not chiefly about places on the ballot. She pointed to long-running differences over how the Frente Amplio parties govern and their closeness to the PSOE. Those differences, she said, had not been resolved for this election.

Podemos has agreed to cooperate with Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and reached joint-candidacy deals in Spain’s Canary Islands and Valencian Community. Belarra said the ERC agreement would allow Montero and Gabriel Rufián to work together in the campaign. Montero said Podemos would campaign on housing, living costs, wages and public services. More than 25,000 people took part in the primaries that selected its national candidacy.

Topics: Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com