One month before the meeting was held To renew the direction and political course of Izquierda Unida there were four candidates trying to formalize a consensus list that would avoid competition within the organization. Antonio Maíllo, Sira Rego, Álvaro Aguilera and José Antonio García Rubio They launched themselves to lead the party in a turbulent context for the left.
The internal scene was tense; Sira Rego, the party’s minister in the coalition government (heading the Youth and Children portfolio), had announced his candidacy before closing an agreement with an important part of the organization (the PCE and some territories such as Andalusia). This, leaders of this sector explained at the time, ended up motivating Maíllo’s candidacy.
Outside the organization, IU was immersed in negotiations with Sumar to form the list for the European elections. In addition, Sumar was also in its own formation process to define itself as a party, a party that Díaz’s party designed as a kind of umbrella that brought together civil society and organizations through an unconvincing quota system to any of the coalition formations.
The storm at IU was perfect in a context of internal and external tension in which each party appealed to the unstable relations with Sumar as a battlehorse in the face of a part of the militancy that already showed some suspicion towards Yolanda Díaz’s project, as it was proposed at that time.
The clash was inevitable, a consensus candidacy was not reached and, finally, it was the militancy that decided to give the baton to Maíllo in the primaries with more than 50% of the votes. On the way to the assembly there were crossed statements and reproaches, but it was also confirmed (during a telematic debate between all the candidates) the capacity of the organization to face debates from differences and plurality. After the votes of the militancy, Maíllo was elected federal coordinator in the assembly with almost 80% of the votes.
The integration of the candidates in the management
Five months later, the situation is very different. After being elected federal coordinator, Maíllo integrated its competitors into the management bodies of IU in the assembly, and decided to keep Rego in the Youth Ministry.
The Andalusian leader began a route through the State to visit the territorial federations of the party and met with sectors that had been very distanced from the previous leadership, led by Alberto Garzón.
Maíllo has brought closer positions with all the currents that contested the IU primaries in the May assembly
He held a work meeting, for example, with Francisco Guaridomayor of Zamora, one of the cities that has become a municipalist bastion for the left. Guarido was always very critical of both the Executive led by Garzón and the pacts that IU reached with Podemos and Sumar. In addition, the mayor of Zamora was, along with other city councilors, on the list led by José Antonio García Rubio to the federal assembly in May.
This Friday, the federal coordinator will be together with the IU Madrid coordinator, Alvaro Aguileraat an event in the city on wealth redistribution that will be held under the title “99% vs 1%, anti-capitalism from below.” Aguilera was another of Maíllo’s competitors in the May assembly.
With Sira RegoAccording to the sources consulted, the relationships are constant. The federal coordinator has defended on several occasions the work of the leader at the head of the Ministry of Youth, now immersed in negotiations to address a system of distribution among the communities of unaccompanied migrant children that is fair and responds to interterritorial equity.
IU launches a Call for Democracy in November to relaunch the left
With the party pacified and cohesive after the tensions of the assembly, Maíllo prepares to face the reorganization process of the left after the resignation of Yolanda Díaz from her organic positions at Sumar.
In November, IU will hold the first meeting of Call for Democracya space for reflection in which Maíllo’s people aspire to draw up a roadmap to confront the rise of the extreme right, with a left on the offensive, and to activate their bases. The party expects the participation of the rest of the alternative left organizations in this congress, since this forum will also serve as a milestone to reflect on the unity of the political space.
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