On Wednesday, Spanish labor minister Yolanda Díaz announced that she won’t be a candidate for office again in 2027. Long a popular representative of the radical left, Díaz’s decision to step back strikingly illustrates the troubled waters in this political space ahead of next year’s general election.
Díaz is the founder-leader of left-wing alliance Sumar, the junior partner in the national government headed by Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists (PSOE). Her presence in government alongside four other Sumar ministers has been key in pushing Sánchez’s administration toward better positions than his European counterparts on both domestic and foreign policy.
For many on the European radical left, Díaz — and even the government as a whole — has an enviable record. Since 2020, after all, this government has strengthened workers’ rights, raised the minimum wage, pushed the green agenda, imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel, and done much more than other NATO states to resist the rise in military spending imposed by Donald Trump.
However, a closer look reveals a less flattering picture. The radical left is divided between Podemos, which is unsuccessfully trying to articulate a left-wing opposition to the government, and Sumar, which is today unable to impose ambitious policies on the PSOE to stop the rise in housing prices and the cost of basic goods. Both Podemos and Sumar are at rock bottom in polls, with Díaz’s coalition around 6 percent of voting intention and Irene Montero’s party at 4 percent. This adds to the weakness of the PSOE, today polling around 26 percent. In short, despite good news that can be cited, the electorate is no longer happy with this government.
All polls show that if there were a general election (scheduled for the summer of 2027), the conservative Partido Popular and far-right Vox would win a majority, totaling around 50 percent of the vote. No one doubts they would govern together, as they already have in several…
Auteur: Pablo Castaño
