Spain’s deputy prime minister and labour minister, Yolanda Díaz, has resigned as leader of the far-left alliance she founded after disappointing results in the European parliamentary elections.
Sumar, bringing together several national and regional hard-left parties, won only three of Spain’s 61 seats in the European Parliament (EP), vastly underperforming. Podemos, a party that split from Sumar in December 2023, also only won two seats, capping a bad night for the Spanish far left.
La Gaceta reports that Díaz told a press conference on Monday:
My duty is to ensure that the coalition government turns hatred into a wave of rights and hope. In recent months, I feel that I have not done the things I do best, and the public has felt this. I am certain that politics was more devoted to itself than to the problems of the people, and we have to be there for the people.
Díaz founded Sumar, which translates as ‘unite,’ in 2022 in an attempt to unite Spain’s fractious far-left. The alliance includes older groups such as United Left—itself a federation of several parties including the Communists—and various green and regionalist parties.
However, following Sunday’s EP election results, her leadership came under heavy criticism. Manuela Bergerot, leader of Más Madrid, one of Sumar’s member parties, called for a “profound and comprehensive reflection,” following the “bad” results.
Díaz was also criticised for appearing to abandon her lead candidate, Estrella Gallán, after failing to appear on stage with her at an event on Sunday’s election night. In a post on X, Gallán said: “I think it is time to reflect on what we parties are doing wrong to explain the importance of European policies.”
In a rare correct observation, Diaz concluded her resignation statement by noting that citizen disaffection with the political class is enormous–reflected in Spain’s 51% rate of abstention at the EP election.
Sumar is a junior coalition partner in the government of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez. The government is already a minority in the Spanish parliament, relying on the support of regional separatist parties to pass legislation. The party’s underperformance will cast further doubt on the government’s long-term viability.
