The Spanish left This Monday he entered into “deep reflection” about its future, which is predicted to be uncertain. The first victim of the result of Sunday’s European elections has been the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, who – in his own words – “takes a step aside to move forward.” A decision that Díaz herself has made after the poor results that have accumulated on the left of the PSOE in the elections of the last two years.

The minister has been accumulating bad results since June 23, when it was first introduced. Furthermore, she suffered a setback in the elections in Galicia which was especially hard because it is his land and he did not get a seat there. Later, the results of the elections in Euskadi, a region where the left usually has good results, did not help the space either, obtaining only one seat. The European elections have only been the last straw, obtaining only three MEPs, leaving out formations such as IU and Más Madrid.

The anger in both parties has been monumental. Therefore, although her decision to leave her position in Sumar has been personal, the truth is that the vice president has been pushed by these formations that make up the Sumar Movement. It is worth remembering, of course, that Díaz abandons the coordination, but not her function as an interlocutor in the Government: “I will be, let no one doubt it, dedicated to that work”. Despite the contradictions that it may entail in the future, at the moment, no formation of the movement has opposed it.

However, others less affected, such as Compromís or the commoners, have also applauded Díaz’s decision. Its president, Joan Baldoví, explained this Monday in Más Vale Tarde that a “reflection” process has been opened to “see how things have been done and how they should continue to be done. “If the results have not been as expected, obviously, a reflection process must be carried out,” he maintained.

While from IU, its federal coordinator, Antonio Maíllo, has assured that the vice president has made “a decision” that he believes he has made after listening to “the reflections that many people have made to him on election night.” In a statement from IU, after a long meeting, he described the results as “bad and disappointing.” Likewise, the left-wing formation states that these results “occur in a worrying scenario of the advance of the extreme right in Europe.”

“It is crucial not to normalize these results, which threaten Human Rights and the working class,” the statement states. United Left, with the aim of responding to social discontent with a brave and honest left-wing proposal, “reaffirms its autonomy and claims to be a protagonist to, with others, work from now on to achieve it.”

On the other hand, within so many unknowns, Maíllo defended and did not rule out a union with Podemos. He stated this this Tuesday, ensuring that “the unit may not always achieve the objectives it one tries but disunity guarantees certain failure.”

Who can take over from Díaz?

This is where the new challenge of the Sumar Movement arises: that of recomposing itself after the step back of Yolanda Díaz. There are more questions than answers in the training sessions, while Sumar will have to choose his new coordinator. Who can take over from Díaz? From Sumar they take it calmly and assure that there is no rush. What is clear, in theory, has to be someone who is part of the Sumar coordinating group and not from other formations (neither Compromís nor Izquierda Unida).

Within the Coordination Group there are 80 people, but few faces are visible. For this reason, the most prominent faces and the candidates to succeed Díaz, temporarily, are the spokesperson for the formation and Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, the secretary of Political Analysis and Speech and spokesperson in Congress, Íñigo Errejón. However, no one dares to predict or give a name until the meeting is held.

In factthe Sumar Movement Coordination Group has called a meeting this Thursday in which the new stage that opens. Yolanda Díaz’s replacement must be voted by a simple majority of one of the 80 people who make up this coordinating group. However, she would not be the definitive coordinator, but rather temporary until we see what will happen with this movement.

Likewise, it is worth remembering that there is the possibility that this will be challenged and have to go to an assembly, but, in principle, the statutes say the first. From IU, Maíllo, despite calling for unity, is clear in the training: “We believe that it is essential to rebuild trust and work together within a framework of democratic functioning, in which all political organizations feel part of the debate and, consequently, also of the decisions”.

What happens at IU?

IU has been left without representation in the European Parliament for the first time, Más Madrid did not get the seat either. The historic MEP Manu Pineda has been left out for going in fourth place in the candidacy, so IU has been the big victim, when parties like Compromís or the Comúns refused to go below three. Manu Pineda received the news with sadness because he trusted in a unity project.

So the until now MEP will not revalidate his seat having obtained only three seats in the European elections that correspond to the head of the list, Estrella Galán, the Commons candidate, Jaume Asens, and the Compromís candidate, Vicent Marzà. Pineda remains outside of it despite his involvement in the electoral campaign in all the autonomous communities.

Sumar counted during the campaign with getting four MEPs and at the beginning of the election night they clung to the fact that the polls published at the closing of the polls, which assigned them between three and four, left them closer to the most optimistic expectation of the interval.

IU was very hurt by the fact that its candidate had been relegated to position 4 on the list. He complained that, being the only party with a presence in the space in all of Spain, their candidate was left behind the Commons, which only has it in Catalonia, and the Compromís, which only has it in the Valencian Community and Furthermore, he did not wantor organically integrate into Sumar as a party.