Sumar negotiates the restructuring of the parliamentary group after the departure of Errejón

Sumar is working on the restructuring of the parliamentary group after the departure of its spokesperson Íñigo Errejón, involved in a scandal due to complaints of harassment and sexual assault against him that have appeared in recent weeks. The coalition has given itself a few days to elect the person who will occupy that position from now on and also for a new distribution of positions on the commissions.

The replacement of Errejón will not be a surgical measure as happened after the departure of Marta Lois. That replacement was carried out organically, because the leader’s departure had a clear date: the beginning of the Galician electoral campaign. Several days before, Yolanda Díaz had already decided to put the then deputy at the head of the parliamentary group.

Also then, the election of the spokesperson was the result of the decision of the second vice president. There was no debate within the parliamentary group with several candidates on the table, but rather, an instance of ratification. A good part of the parties, however, opted for the former leader of Más País and Más Madrid.

This time it seems more difficult that the election of a new spokesperson (all forces agree on their desire for her to be a woman) can occur vertically. Although the coalition agreement contemplates that Movimiento Sumar has the prerogative of electing the group’s main spokesperson, the internal problems after 23J have weakened the hegemonic position of the second vice president’s party.

That is why this Monday, shortly before the meeting of the parliamentary group, Izquierda Unida considered that the conditions were not met to elect the person to replace Errejón that day. “Before talking about the spokesperson, let’s talk about the method, about a reorganization of the parliamentary group,” said its general coordinator, Antonio Maíllo, in parallel to the meeting held at that time by the Organization Secretaries of the different parties that make up the coalition. .

Since assuming the leadership of IU, Maíllo has opted to provide Sumar with democratic decision-making mechanisms, after repeated complaints about an operation based on “hyper-leadership.” “Since the new management of IU took office, we proposed that Sumar as an umbrella had been surpassed, that another reorganization was necessary, and we had requested a reorganization of the group, where we make decisions in a democratic and consensual manner and that has not been done,” said.

IU was one of the main victims in the distribution of parliamentary tasks that Sumar did at the beginning of the legislature. Then Podemos was still in the parliamentary group and the leading nucleus distributed deputy spokespersons between the comuns, Compromís and a rotating one between Més and CHA. The state forces, IU as well as Podemos, were left without a signature.

With the arrival of Errejón, IU negotiated to get Enrique Santiago to be a substitute spokesperson. A position of little public relevance but which allowed the federation to promote legislative initiatives without the need for them to be signed by the main spokesperson.

Now IU wants this entire process to be done in a more democratic way and for the restructuring to also affect the rest of the positions in the parliamentary group. That is, to the spokespersons on the committees assigned to the parties. There are changes that Sumar must make. Errejón was a regular spokesperson in the constitutional commission and also a member of the permanent deputation (the body that governs Congress in extraordinary periods), as well as a member of the reserved expenses commission. Her replacement in the seat, Alda Recas, from Más Madrid, has an extensive resume as a nurse and health activist, so her parliamentary tasks will surely be dedicated to commissions that have more to do with health or social rights.

Sources from the group acknowledged this week that this negotiation was going to require a little more time than initially planned in response to requests from various groups, not just IU, to establish a more democratic decision-making mechanism. Next week there will be no plenary session, although there will surely be a meeting of spokespersons, to which, if there is no prior election, Txema Guijarro will attend, as substitute spokesperson and general secretary of the group. He already did it this week in the first press conference without Errejón.

Sumar Movement will debate postponing the assembly to 2025

Another issue that is on the table is the recomposition of Movimiento Sumar after the departure of Errejón, who was in charge of the Secretariat of Political Analysis and Speech in the executive and was in charge of preparing the political presentation of that congress. Guijarro announced last Tuesday that there was a debate about postponing the congress, initially scheduled for December 14 and 15, to 2025. An idea that management sources maintain that they were already handling before Errejón’s resignation and that will have to be debated in the Coordinating Group that is scheduled for November 9.

However, it seems quite clear, according to several members of that expanded leadership, that this assembly will ultimately be postponed. The formation that Yolanda Díaz founded will thus have more time not only for the drafting of that political document – ​​the work on which Errejón had already started – but also for the debate on the organic deployment that it wants to develop in the territories.

At that meeting, Movimiento Sumar will also update its organic document to adapt it to the new reality of training after the European elections. At the founding assembly in March, a mixed operation scheme emerged in which Yolanda Díaz’s project was a hybrid structure that incorporated its own militancy and at the same time the parties. Its leadership reserved 30% for leaders of the political formations that currently make up the coalition.

That thesis, however, was buried behind the internal problems resulting from the negotiations for the European lists. After June 9, Yolanda Díaz resigned from organic leadership and the thesis was imposed that Movimiento Sumar should be just another party within the coalition of parties. The next congress seeks to land this in a new document for the new stage of the left.