Podemos (, ) is a left-wing to far-left political party in Spain. Founded in January 2014 by the political scientist Pablo Iglesias Turrión as part of the anti-austerity movement in Spain, the party is currently led by Secretary-General Ione Belarra.
Podemos emerged in the context of the economic crisis at the start of the 2010s and the aftermath of the Spain's anti-austerity movement, which was protesting against inequality and corruption. A fast-growing movement, the party took part in the 2014 European Parliament election, winning almost 8% of the vote and five seats out of 54, outperforming the polls. The party would go on to participate in the 2015 and 2016 Spanish general election, becoming the country's third-largest political force, but underperforming against the PSOE in the battle for hegemony in the Spanish left.
On 9 May 2016, Podemos formed the Unidos Podemos electoral alliance with the United Left, Equo, and regionalist left-wing parties."Spanish leftists Podemos boosted by new electoral alliance". After the fall of government talks with the PSOE after the April 2019 Spanish general election, the November 2019 Spanish general election, in which the party and its allies won 12.9% of the vote and 35 seats in the Congress of Deputies, resulted in the second government of Pedro Sánchez through a coalition government between Podemos and the PSOE, the first multi-party cabinet in the Spanish democratic era. The party participated in the Sumar coalition for the 2023 general election, but left it soon after.
History
Background
Podemos emerged from the Indignados movement against inequality and corruption in 2011. The group was inspired by the populist leaders of Latin America's pink tide, which included Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Bolivia's Evo Morales.
In January 2014, it released the manifesto Mover ficha: convertir la indignación en cambio político ("Move A Piece: Turn Indignation Into Political Change"), which was signed by thirty intellectuals and personalities, including Juan Carlos Monedero, Alberto San Juan, associate professor of political science at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) Jaime Pastor, the writer and philosopher Santiago Alba Rico, the former leader of the Left Trade Union Current Cándido González Carnero and Bibiana Medialdea, associate professor of applied economy at the UCM.
Podemos' manifesto stated that it was necessary to create a party list for the 2014 European Parliament election, intending to oppose the dominant policies of the European Union from the left. On 14 January, Pablo Iglesias Turrión, a professor of political science at the UCM and a TV presenter, was announced as the head of the movement. The movement was organised by the party Anti-Capitalist Left (Izquierda Anticapitalista), the Spanish section of the Trotskyist Fourth International, which had written the Mover ficha manifesto. One of the points highlighted by Iglesias was the derogation of the 135th article of the Constitution, which was made in 2011 by the major parties People's Party (PP) and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE); full application of the 128th article of the constitution ("All wealth of the country in all its forms and no matter who owns it, is subordinated to the people's interest"); and maintaining abortion rights. They also demanded Spain's exit from NATO and supported the Spanish autonomous communities' right to self-determination.
Foundation The Podemos movement was officially launched on 16 January 2014 in the Teatro del Barrio in the Lavapiés neighbourhood of Madrid, with a press conference attended by hundreds of people. The speakers at the launch included Pablo Iglesias, Juan Carlos Monedero, Teresa Rodríguez, psychiatrist and member of the Marea Blanca, Ana Castaño, Íñigo Errejón, and Miguel Urbán. The party's fundamental goal was to oppose the austerity policies of the government.
In order to run in the European elections of 2014, the members of the bare bones of Podemos set themselves three conditions: to receive the support of at least 50,000 people; that both the programme and the lists of candidates be prepared through open participation; and that unity be sought with other parties and movements of the left, such as United Left, the Popular Unity Candidacy, the X Party, the Andalusian Workers' Union, Anova and the citizens' mareas ("tides"). The 50,000 signatures were obtained in less than 24 hours, and the Podemos website crashed due to the high traffic.
In August 2015, Podemos endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. The party's international secretariat released a statement that "In Podemos we share Jeremy Corbyn's view that another Europe is not just possible but necessary." It added: "Against the irresponsibility of the troika and the Eurogroup, against the Europe of financial lobbies and puppet representatives, a new democratic and social Europe is emerging, and Jeremy Corbyn's victory would be a great step in that direction."
2014 European Parliament election In the 2014 European Parliament election in Spain on 25 May, Podemos received 7.98% of the national vote, with 1,200,000 votes cast, electing five Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Iglesias chose Dina Bousselham to lead his cabinet of advisors as an MEP.
El País described Pablo Iglesias Turrión as pessimistic about the outcome of the election: "We have lost these European elections. They have been won by the People's Party. We cannot be happy about this." He stated that his objective is to "move forward until we throw the PP and the PSOE out of power" and that "[w]e will now work with other parties from the south of Europe to make it clear that we don't want to be a German colony." Iglesias said Podemos MEPs would not take the standard MEP salary of more than €8,000 a month, stating that "not one of our MEPs will earn more than €1,930, an amount that's three times the minimum wage in Spain."
First party congress On 5 June 2014, Pablo Iglesias Turrión announced that the Asamblea Ciudadana "Sí se puede" (Citizens' Assembly "Yes, It Can Be Done") would take place in the autumn. Iglesias also announced that a team of twenty-five people would be responsible for preparing the assembly, to be chosen in open elections in which anybody could participate, with closed lists, with no limit to the number of lists that could be presented. The vote took place over the Internet on 12 and 13 June. Two lists were presented, one headed by Iglesias and the other promoted by the Círculo de Enfermería ("Nurses' circle"). The technical details of the election and the deadlines generated discussion within Podemos. In a meeting of Podemos circles, which took place on 8 June in Madrid, the party's leadership faced significant criticism from many of its members for both the closed lists and the short deadlines, which allegedly led to fewer lists being presented. The electoral process in which 55,000 people participated gave the victory to Iglesias' list, with 86.8% of the vote.
A major part of the citizens' assembly involved the writing of documents defining the political and organisational principles of the party as well as resolutions the party would adopt. Any member of Podemos could present a document, and these would be adopted or rejected through a vote in which all members of Podemos participate. These documents would determine the structure of the party. Internal elections would then take place, again with the participation of all members of Podemos, to fill the positions defined by this structure.
The citizens' assembly held a meeting in Madrid on 18 and 19 October. On 19 October, Podemos membership was 130,000 and on 22 October it was 170,000.
The citizens' assembly adopted five resolutions, all of which were submitted by circles, based on the votes of Podemos members, each of whom could vote for five resolutions. The approved resolutions were on improving public education (45%), on anti-corruption measures (42%), on the right to housing (38%), on improving public healthcare (31%), and on auditing and restructuring the debt (23%).
The ethical, political, and structure documents proposed by the "Claro que Podemos", which included Luis Alegre, Carolina Bescansa, Íñigo Errejón, Pablo Iglesias, and Juan Carlos Monedero, were approved by 80.7% of the vote, surpassing "Sumando Podemos" 12.3% of the vote, promoted by the MEPs Pablo Echenique, Teresa Rodríguez, and Lola Sánchez in the vote for the structure document.
2015 local elections In October 2014, Podemos decided not to stand candidates in the 2015 Spanish local elections. Instead, it decided that its members would support local grassroots candidacies, where the so-called "mayors of change" were successfully elected: anti-evictions activist Ada Colau in Barcelona with Barcelona en Comú, former member of the General Council of the Judiciary Manuela Carmena in Madrid with Ahora Madrid, judge Xulio Ferreiro in A Coruña, doctor Martiño Noriega in Santiago, trade unionist Jorge Suárez in Ferrol, lawyer and activist Pedro Santisteve in Zaragoza with Zaragoza en Común, and teacher José María González "Kichi" in Cádiz with Adelante Cádiz.
2015 general election In the lead-up to the 2015 general election, Podemos adopted a pledge that, if the party won the election, it would hold a nationwide referendum on whether Spain should retain the Spanish monarchy or become a republic. The party also promised to increase public spending and ban job cuts in profitable firms.
At the 2015 general election on 20 December 2015, Podemos received 21% of the vote and became the third largest party in the parliament, with 69 out of 350 seats,Entscheidung in Spanien: Konservative sind Wahlsieger, verlieren aber Mehrheit. Spiegel Online, 20 December 2015 the strongest performance for a third party in Spain since the Transition - with the previous one being 23 seats for the PCE in the 1979 elections. The party was the single most voted force in the provinces of Barcelona, Tarragona, Gipuzkoa, and Alava, while surpassing the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party also in Madrid, A Coruña, Pontevedra, Navarre, Castellón, Valencia, Alicante, Las Palmas, and the Balearic Islands.
Unidos Podemos
Following the failure of the 2015–2016 Spanish government formation negotiations to create a stable coalition government, on 2 May 2016, a second general election was called for June 2016."Spain faces new elections in June after parties fail to form a government"."Spain's King Felipe calls new election amid political deadlock". To contest the election, Podemos formed an electoral alliance with United Left, Equo, and regional left-wing parties, the official name being announced on 13 May 2016 as Unidos Podemos ("United We Can"). The coalition received 21.2% of the vote.
Andalucía Podemos formed the Adelante Andalucía coalition with the left, the Greens, and Primavera Andaluza to contest the 2018 Andalusian regional election.
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