Yolanda Díaz resigns as leader of Sumar after the results of the European championships

Yolanda Díaz leaves the leadership of Sumar. Just a few months after receiving the support of the militancy of her political platform to become general coordinator, the second vice president leaves her organic responsibilities and will focus on her task within the Government as Minister of Labor, according to sources familiar with the decision. to elDiario.es. Díaz has made this decision after some harsh results in the European elections that call into question the viability of the project that she has been building since Pablo Iglesias handed over the leadership of the confederal space to her in 2021.

Sumar won just 3 seats in the European elections this Sunday. A poor result that also leaves Izquierda Unida, Díaz’s main partner in the construction of the broad front of leftist parties, out of Brussels. Part of these results are due to a better than expected performance by Podemos, which has won two MEPs and which shows that it has more weight within the left-wing electorate than the hard core of the vice president trusted it with.

In Sumar they understand that there is a part of the leadership that works, their role at the head of Sumar in the Government and in the Ministry of Labor and they defend that this is something that the polls reflect. But they also believe that he must accept electoral results that they have considered negative from the first moment and that is why he has decided to resign to make way for another person and open a reflection on how the political project should be built.

Yolanda Díaz later announced the decision in a streaming video, without questions. “I feel like I haven’t done the things I should have done and the things I know how to do best. The citizens have perceived it. Many people have been telling me that. We have to be there to solve people’s problems, not the problems of parties or politicians. The last elections have served as a mirror, citizens are not wrong when they vote nor when they are not going to vote,” Díaz began.

The until now leader of Sumar has assumed first-hand responsibility for these elections. “I have decided to leave my position as general coordinator of Sumar; There needs to be a debate and with this decision I open a path that must be collective, both within Sumar and in the organizations that are part of the coalition,” she said in her speech.

“It is necessary to step aside to take a step forward in politics that serves working people,” Díaz summarized. He later tweeted that “sometimes it is necessary to take a step aside to take a step forward.” “I firmly believe in the power of politics and its ability to deliver good news to those who need us most. You will always find me there,” he wrote.

After Sunday’s scene, practically all organizations involved in the construction of Sumar had asked the management of the political project for reflection. The spokesman himself, Ernest Urtasun, acknowledged this Sunday that the results were not what was expected, that they transcended the European elections and that therefore they opened a process of reflection to reinforce the political project.

Although no one asked for the resignation of Yolanda Díaz, in the tweets of some party leaders there were harsh criticisms of Sumar’s leadership and how the process of building a broad front that has not worked so far has been forged. Sumar, for now, is only the Sumar Movement, a political formation that includes cadres from other political formations and independent people close to the Minister of Labor. In all these months, the movements in that direction have been angering the political parties that want to participate in the construction of the project for different reasons.

These tensions exploded in the negotiations to form the list of European elections in which Sumar decided to relegate Izquierda Unida, the only state party on the list, to fourth place, which has finally left them out of the European Parliament. IU even debated in an assembly whether to accept that position or go alone. Yolanda Díaz put the comuns ahead, who on Sunday were behind Podemos in Catalonia, and Compromís, which is not part of the organic construction of Sumar.

Sumar’s expectations have been diminishing as the European elections approached. After the internal turbulence, with a candidate, Estrella Galán, who has not finished functioning, and with leaks towards the PSOE and Podemos, the coalition has ended up with three seats and less than 5% of the vote at the state level, despite to be a force with five ministries in the Government. These results also come after a total failure in Galicia, where they did not manage to enter Parliament, a very bad result in Euskadi and a setback also in Catalonia.

Sunday’s results have exhausted the patience of the parties. Yolanda Díaz, who during the election night did not even go to the Sumar headquarters to support her candidate, has decided to directly assume responsibility and abandon all her organic positions to remain involved in the work within the Government, just a few months after the founding assembly that established her as leader. What is opening up now is a new stage of upheaval and uncertainty for a left that is increasingly diminished and entangled in its internal fights.

Now all the unknowns are open. The first who will try to take over from Díaz at the head of Sumar, if its leaders understand that the organization as it exists right now still makes sense. Along with Díaz, the decision triangle that commanded the party was completed by Ernest Urtasun and Íñigo Errejón. The first, according to close sources, does not plan a priori to aspire to take the reins of the organization. “Today’s decision by Yolanda Díaz is one of honesty, long-term vision and militant commitment,” said Errejón after learning of the decision.