Adelante Andalucía became the surprise of election night in this community on May 17. It was the party that grew the most and with almost 10% of the votes, it not only became the second political force of the left, with eight deputies (it started with two), surpassing Por Andalucía (the coalition of Podemos and IU – with a strong presence in the territory -), but also took the absolute majority from Juan Manuel Moreno’s PP. These results and the strategy they outlined to achieve them: a fresh, proactive opposition, with an original campaign with a strong presence on social media and very combative with the PP and Vox, without getting into “the little fights of the left,” as their candidate José Ignacio García emphasized, have become for the Andalusian group “the mandate of 17M” with which they will run in the next general elections – still without a date – and the municipal ones. That mandate implies running alone, without being part of any of the national coalitions – still not finalized – nor the local ones that may arise, as García confirmed this Monday.
The ultimate goal of that mandate is “to oust the right and the far right,” from the Government and the town halls and that, the leader of Adelante emphasized, is only achieved with “a new left.” “The usual left is not good enough for us. We know that the PSOE is a machine for disappointing left-wing voters, the most perfect one,” García stressed. And although he never mentioned any of the socialist partners – neither parliamentary nor government – the Andalusian leader also distanced his proposal from the potential coalitions of progressive and sovereigntist formations that began to be discussed before the summer. “The collapse of the PSOE Government carries the risk that if everyone gets under its wing, they will fall with the PSOE. I believe we have the historical responsibility for a useful left to continue existing, capable of ousting the right, and that is Adelante Andalucía,” García said.
“The mandate of May 17 is that we continue to be Adelante Andalucía and we will run with that candidacy, without forming a coalition with anyone, in the eight provinces. Adelante gets more people to vote for the left, we expand the space, we do not take it away from Podemos or IU, who stayed the same.” Thus, García wanted to close the debate on whether the coalition will run alone in the general elections. But that premise also applies to the municipal ones. Almost four years ago, Adelante also refused to be part of left-wing coalitions and almost fell into irrelevance. Of the 35 town halls where they ran, they only obtained representation in four. Cádiz was an example of that collapse. From the 13 councilors with which it governed, it disappeared. The context has changed and the momentum of 17M leads Adelante to be very optimistic: “We are going to win the mayoralty of Cádiz, but not only Cádiz. We have stopped being the party of Cádiz or Seville,” García predicted.
The Andalusian group has designed an ambitious roadmap. They will run in all cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (12), in almost all regions and in many of the remaining 780 Andalusian municipalities, in a candidate selection process that includes a municipalist conference to be held on October 10, where the party will present the project approved by the national coordinator, according to Adelante’s Organization Secretaries, Néstor Salvador and Rocío Díaz. In November, the candidates for the main cities will be presented and for the smaller municipalities, where the party is seeing assemblies being formed, the deadline will extend until February. If there are several candidates, there will be an in-person ballot and if there is only one, the program must be ratified. Whoever runs must have a team behind them.
The coalition is aware that these times work against the recognition of their mayoral candidates by their neighbors, a differentiating element in municipal elections, but García recalls that there are bigger parties choosing theirs now. Achieving good results locally is essential to consolidate Adelante’s project. “It is the great test because municipal elections allow us to build our two legs. For us, it is important to climb positions of strength or power within institutions, as well as social rooting and social organization from below,” Díaz acknowledged.