Podemos in Euskadi bets everything on Irene Montero. Firstly, to obtain representation in Europe, but also to start a comeback that will allow it to recover the space lost in the last regional elections in which the party was left out of the Basque Parliament after competing separately from Sumar. Podemos’s campaign in Euskadi for the European elections has been low-intensity, concentrating most of the events on visits by national leaders without giving much prominence to local leaders or the only Basque candidate running on the Podemos list. This Friday, Podemos in Euskadi did not hold an event to close the campaign, nor did it hold any to start the electoral race.
Unlike the rest of the formations that compete in the elections to the European Parliament, in which the Basque candidates have campaigned daily, accompanied or not by their state leaders, and whether or not they have the possibility of being elected as European parliamentarians, the Podemos candidate, Luis Miguel Lapeña, current councilor of the Leioa City Council and who occupies position 58 on the list headed by Irene Montero, has had a totally testimonial presence in the rallies that have been held. He has not participated in any of the debates on Basque public television either. In ETB1, in Basque, Miren Echeveste represented Podemos, who is the spokesperson for the group in Gipuzkoa, but who is not on the European lists; while in ETB2, in Spanish, it was Isa Serra, the number two in Montero’s candidacy, and nothing to do with Euskadi, who debated with the rest of the candidates.
In the events that have been held with the presence of Irene Montero herself, Ione Belarra and Pablo Iglesias, the idea that these elections are understood as a first step for the formation to regain strength to once again lead the state left has come to light. Something that they have made an effort to show as a necessary step for sovereignty to make its way in Spain. In fact, Pablo Iglesias himself appealed for a transfer of the vote from EH Bildu supporters to the candidacy of Irene Montero, ensuring that the State model cannot be changed if the left that Podemos represents does not gain strength.
Thus, the results that Podemos obtains in these elections will have a European reading, of course, but also a national one, to see if Irene Montero regains space against Yolanda Díaz’s Sumar, whose candidacy is led by Estrella Galán. That same reading of the struggle for Sumar’s space will also be transferred to Euskadi. The results of the polls will also allow us to glimpse if Podemos’s debacle in the regional elections, which led its candidate for lehendakari, Miren Gorrotxategi, to leave politics, is consolidated or if, on the contrary, it cuts positions with Sumar, its direct competitor for the electoral space, whose Basque candidate, Andeka Larrea, has campaigned daily. In Podemos Euskadi everything has been bet on one card: Irene Montero.
