The Por Andalucía coalition stumbles at the polls. After an agonizing count, which at one point left them with three deputies, the ballot that brings together Izquierda Unida, Podemos, and Movimiento Sumar will retain the five deputies obtained in 2022 for the next legislature, allowing them to form their own group. Despite the “relief” acknowledged after several hours of silence — a sign that something was wrong — the result is poor, with a direct rival, Adelante, surpassing them and securing eight seats. None of the goals set by the candidacy led by Antonio Maíllo are met: neither increasing representation nor leading the left-wing bloc against the socialists. The lack of pull of the formation calls into question the unitary project for the general elections and reveals the political space’s problems in attracting new voters.
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It was Maíllo who repeated for months that matching results would be a failure. In 2022, Por Andalucía went from 17 deputies, with a single list, to five. After almost two hours of tension, the fifth seat, for Granada, has now been confirmed with 80% counted. IU also enters through Málaga, Córdoba, and Sevilla, and Movimiento Sumar through Cádiz. Podemos is left out.
Despite everything, Adelante’s momentum means the left sums up to 15.9%, a much better result than those obtained in Extremadura (10.3%), Aragón (13.5% including CHA), or Castilla y León (2.9%). In Andalusia, the two lists together also exceed the overall result of Sumar in the 2023 general elections (12.3%).
The sorpasso of Teresa Rodríguez’s anticapitalist party, now converted to Andalusian nationalism and led by José Ignacio García, reflects the coalition’s limits and opens a rift in the political space not only in the community.
The results threaten the viability of the project for the 2027 general elections, which must advance with important decisions in the coming months. IU, Más Madrid, Comuns, and Movimiento Sumar have already presented the skeleton of their coalition for those elections, but without a program, brand, or leader. And after Yolanda Díaz stepped aside, there is no alternative figure clearly emerging. Maíllo himself, who was one of the leaders most critical of the vice president, is now questioned.
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The strategy outlined in the campaign, with a discourse very focused on defending the health system, quality public education, and the right to housing, has failed to convince voters, against an Adelante that steals part of the space..
The five deputies obtained this Sunday also do not help to strengthen ties with Podemos, which fails to secure its seat in Jaén and becomes extraparlamentary in 12 autonomous communities (only present in Navarra, La Rioja, Extremadura, Murcia, and the Balearic Islands).
The national leadership, with Ione Belarra and Irene Montero at the forefront, dragged their feet during the campaign, limiting their interventions to supporting their own after having criticized the agreement as soon as it was signed. The party, which broke with Sumar in December 2023 and had defended its own path until the end, has not yet decided whether it will run alone in the general elections, where the MEP was proposed last year as a reference. The former Minister of Equality stirred the idea of a possible electoral tandem with the ERC spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, the best valued on the left to lead a candidacy. But for now, that idea has not taken hold. “It is the moment of the sovereignist left. A moment they must know how to interpret and lead: the conclusion cannot be ‘since it goes well for me, to hell with the rest.’ And a moment that the Spanish left must know how to accept and foster: they are the problem. To listen and to help,” Rufián has recommended, who has been calling for unity for months to face the right-wing parties. “PP and VOX can be undermined and defeated: optimizing the electoral offer and with science. Province by province. A huge hug, Teresa Rodríguez. You have marked a path.” If there is no surprise, in any case, the municipal and regional elections must come first. In several territories and municipalities, the Unidas Podemos brand still operates. Those negotiations will be another decisive element to tip alliances in a scenario of extreme weakness.
