Spain’s Vice-President Pablo Iglesias leaves the government and will be a candidate for the Community of Madrid

The leader of the leftist party Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, announced on Monday that he will step down as vice-president of the Spanish government and will aspire to the regional presidency of Madrid in the upcoming elections on 4 May.

“I will run for the May 4 elections in the Community of Madrid”, currently controlled by the right, Iglesias said in a video on his social media.

Iglesias, who had held the vice-presidency for social rights since January 2020 when Podemos entered the executive as a junior partner of the socialists, He said he communicated to the President of the Government, the Socialist Pedro Sánchez, that he would leave his “government post when the campaign begins”.

At the head of Podemos since its creation in 2014, Pablo Iglesias, former university professor of political science, occupies one of the four vice-presidencies of the first Spanish coalition government since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975.

The objective of his decision is, according to Iglesias, is build a “strong and characterful candidacy” and prevent “the extreme right” from speaking out in the Capitol region.

To this end, the leader of Podemos called for the unity of the left bloc and offered More from Madrid to form a “single” candidate for the elections.

“I thought about it a lot (…) I decided that if those registered so wish, I would run for the primary to be a candidate for the Community of Madrid elections. An activist must be where he is most useful, rest assured that I will put all my experience, all my heart and the strength of my organization to build a strong and broad left-wing candidacy.Said Iglesias.

“The enormous danger and the enormous opportunity that we have before us demand that we have the responsibility, the humility and the goodwill to go all together in a candidacy for unity.“He explained to stress that he is” aware “of the” scars “that exist with the party he leads at the national level. Íñigo Errejón.

Iglesias also announced that will hand over the leadership of United We Can to the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, who will also assume the position of second vice-president.

Iglesias said now is the time to take courageous decisions in the face of the political moment and believes that “People from Podemos” and on the left want me to run for the next general election.

In addition, he stated that the wallet of Ministry of Social Rights will pass into the hands of the current Secretary of State for Agenda 2030, Ione Grass.

Iglesias’ surprise announcement comes after Madrid president last week, Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the People’s Party (PP, right), will announce the call for early elections in the region.

This decision came after in the small region of Murcia (south-east) the Liberals of Ciudadanos broke their coalition with the PP and promoted a motion of the Socialists there, in an attempt to remove the right from power.

Díaz Ayuso alleged he resigned and called an election to avoid a no-confidence motion in Madrid, another of the regions where the PP reigned with the citizens.

Immediately after Iglesias’ announcement, Díaz Ayuso tweeted: “Communism or freedom. May 4 “.

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