Pablo Iglesias leaves government to run for Madrid regional elections; work minister Yolanda Díaz takes over as deputy president

NATIONAL leader for Unidas Podemos Pablo Iglesias has stepped down as deputy president of Spain and handed over his seat in Parliament in order to run for regional elections in Madrid.

Spanish president Pedro Sánchez has agreed to Iglesias' nomination of his UP colleague and current minister for work and pensions, Yolanda Díaz, to replace him as one of the four right-hand persons – now all women – in Sánchez's running of the country, along with economy and digital transformation minister Nadia Calviño; minister for the environment, energy transition and demographic challenge, Teresa Ribera, and presidential relations minister Carmen Calvo.

The latter three are, like Sánchez, on the centre-left socialists (PSOE), with Carmen Calvo as first deputy, Nadia Calviño third and Teresa Ribera fourth.

Iglesias, from the left-wing coalition of Podemos and United Left (Izquierda Unida), which initially ran for national elections as Unidos Podemos and then rebranded in the feminine as Unidas Podemos, has been minister for social rights and Agenda 2030 as well as second deputy president – the first of which rôles, and his seat in Parliament, now going to UP's Ione Belarra.

A no-confidence vote in the Region of Murcia leading to a change in regional government has led Madrid's regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of the right-wing PP, to take the gamble of calling an early election in the hope of reinforcing her mandate.

In doing so, she also hopes to strengthen the position of the PP nationwide. 

Now, Iglesias has taken the even bigger gamble of leaving his job as Spain's third-in-command, which would have been secure until at least November 2023 unless the government itself called a snap election ahead of time, to try for presidency of the region which is home to the country capital – and which could even lead to his getting no seat at all. 

If, in the Greater Madrid region, United Left and the Podemos breakaway group Más Madrid decide to band together to run for elections, Iglesias says he is prepared to be second on the list.

For United Left, he will be leading the group, and Mónica García is campaigning as leader of Más Madrid, but should the two combine, Iglesias would not have an issue with Sra García's being head candidate, or with an in-house election among both parties and their subscribers to decide.

Iglesias says he believes he would be 'more use' as president of the Greater Madrid region than as second deputy president of the national government, and that his aim is to 'strengthen' the left in order to depose the PP, with his overriding objective is to 'halt the far right'. 

The danger, he says, is of the PP's becoming an ally of extreme-right Vox – already part of the PP government in the region of Andalucía – either with or at the expense of centre-right Ciudadanos.

Ciudadanos initially branded itself as 'liberal' and its MEPs are on the liberal ALDE party in European Parliament, but in Spain's last two general elections, was firmly on the side of the PP, even at the risk the latter would align with Vox.

“If we want to stop the far right, Vox, then it has to be the left that does it, jointly and with the intention of transforming,” Iglesias said in an interview on Spain's sixth analogue channel, La Sexta.

“It would be good news for the people of Madrid if we managed to halt these extremists.

“My decision did not really surprise Pedro Sánchez – in politics, you have to know where you'd be most useful. It's crucial that everyone understands a new political culture, where everyone is placed in the position they'll be most useful, and I'm most useful in the Madrid regional government.”

The PSOE has put forward Ángel Gabilondo as its regional presidential candidate, and Iglesias says Gabilondo will 'need to live up to' his rôle by 'addressing a very different electorate'.

“Gabilondo will have to appeal to those people who voted for the PP and Ciudadanos but who are not happy with Ayuso, whilst our job [United Left and Más Madrid] is to bring the left together. Each one of us has to play our part,” Iglesias argues.

“Our overriding aim is to stop the alt-right and stop Ayuso.

“We cannot consent to let the far right get into regional government in Madrid; it would be a tragedy for Spain. We cannot just go to sleep. I'm not even contemplating a defeat in these elections.”

Concerning his successor as second deputy president, Iglesias says: “Yolanda is the best work minister in Spain's democratic history. She could even one day be the first-ever female president of Spain.”

Asked whether Pedro Sánchez would 'be able to rest easily' now Iglesias was no longer head of his coalition partner party – given that the two always ended up engaging in very difficult, albeit healthy, debates ahead of every government decision or law amendment – Iglesias responded that he had left the national president with 'a great team' in the shape of Unidas Podemos, a team which would 'give him healthy headaches'.

“Yolanda is every bit as headstrong as I am, or even more,” he concludes.