Pablo Iglesias retires from politics after Madrid defeat – telam

Former minister and former number two in the Spanish government, leader of the left-wing force United We Can and Madrid Assembly candidate Pablo Iglesias announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down from politics, after acknowledging a resounding defeat in the capital. with the Conservative People’s Party.

“I drop all my accusations. I leave the policy understood as a partisan and institutional policy ”, assured the leader in front of his partisans in the electoral bunker of Madrid.

Iglesias left the government vice-presidency a few weeks ago to run for Madrid looking to avoid yet another Tory triumph, but although Unidos Podemos does something better when it comes to its performance in the capital in 2019, its only 10 seats in the capital’s Legislative Assembly seem few.

Pablo Iglesias left politics in Spain: “My presence does not contribute to the addition”

“Being made a scapegoat makes your role in your organization and your role in improving democracy in your country very limited and mobilizes the worst of those who hate democracy. And you have to make decisions and take them without thinking, ”explained Iglesias., surrounded by a large part of the party staff.

Evice considered “obvious that to date, the results clearly show” that his presence did not help “to add” and was even more brutal: “I am not a political figure who can contribute to our political strength in the years to come can consolidate its institutional strength ”.

Iglesias insisted he didn’t want to “be a stopper for a leadership renewal that needs to take place” in the party and even speculated that Labor Minister and Deputy Third, Yolanda Daz, ” could be the next President of the Government. “

“I don’t know what fate is; walking I was what I was, ”said Iglesias, citing a fragment of El necio, a song by Cuban Silvio Rodríguez.

Part of the dissatisfaction with the now exvice can also be explained by the remarkable performance of Mas Madrid, a new force, also on the left and led by his former friend and political partner Iigo Errejón., which managed to add 24 seats and became the emerging force of the sector in this city.

With his hair tied in a ponytail or a bun, this 42-year-old former political science professor has been the undisputed protagonist of Spanish politics since the creation in 2014 of the left-wing Podemos party, heir to the indignant movement and massive protests against it. austerity promoted by the European Union in 2011.

With fists raised and shouting “Yes, we can”, Iglesias and his comrades from Podemos entered the European Parliament in 2014 and in 2015, along with the centrists of Ciudadanos, ended the bipartisanship of socialists and conservatives in Spain.

Denouncing austerity and the political and economic “caste”, Podemos became the third force of the Spanish Congress., where the shapes and appearance of its members contrasted with parliamentary solemnity.

Frustrated by his attempt to outdo the Socialists as the first force on the left, in 2018 he ended up agreeing with them to overthrow the conservative Mariano Rajoy with a motion of censure and invest the socialist Pedro Snchez.

With him, in January 2020, he formed the first center-left coalition government in Spain after the Franco dictatorship and became one of the country’s vice-presidents.

After several moments of tension and divergence within the governing coalition, he surprised the country by resigning from this post a few weeks ago to stand in the regional elections in Madrid and try for United We to win in a stronghold that he believes in. had been profitable. at the beginning, but where the right has ruled for years.

The risky bet ended in resounding failure, however, and he today announced what may be his latest surprise: his departure from partisan politics in Spain.