Podemos leader Ione Belarra wants separate agreements with Izquierda Unida (IU) in ten regions ahead of Spain’s 29 November 2026 elections, but IU coordinator Antonio Maíllo says his party will negotiate only within Frente Amplio. The coalition-registration deadline is 16 October, leaving little time to decide who will negotiate for the left.
Belarra made her proposal on RNE on 15 October. It covers Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Euskadi, Navarra, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Extremadura and Andalucía. Her public appeals name IU but leave out Sumar and the new Frente Amplio brand, reviving a format similar to the former Unidas Podemos coalition without including either in the proposed formula.
Belarra says voters who want to support the left lack that option in several territories. She wants to restore a form similar to the former Unidas Podemos across much of Spain. Podemos leaders in the regions have also approached IU. In Murcia, Víctor Egío says the two organisations have worked together for years and do not need a new formula.
Podemos says the aim is to stop fragmentation from leaving left-wing votes without representation where the electoral arithmetic is less favourable. Belarra has singled out Madrid and Barcelona as exceptions, arguing that their constituencies are more proportional and left-wing votes are so less likely to go unrepresented.
Separate talks with regional partners are also under way. Podemos is speaking with Compromís in the Valencian Community, Chunta Aragonesista in Aragon and Ara Més in the Balearic Islands.
Podemos is considering running against Frente Amplio in Madrid and Barcelona. In Catalonia, its cooperation agreement with ERC remains in place. In Madrid, differences with the new coalition remain unresolved.
The dispute concerns the negotiating structure as well as the electoral arrangements. Maíllo has rejected talks with Podemos outside Frente Amplio and says IU will not accept separate agreements divided by region. He says Podemos can join unity deals if it negotiates with the coalition as a whole, and describes IU’s position as negotiating from within Frente Amplio.
Maíllo also objects to the timing, saying the regional proposals had not been raised before the final day of the negotiating period. Spain’s electoral calendar sets the coalition-registration deadline under the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime, or Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General. A separate dispute involving party divisions at local level was covered in this report on Algeciras. It concerned the PP and has no direct bearing on the current negotiations. Maíllo says Frente Amplio’s alliances must remain under one umbrella.
