Yolanda Díaz has responded this Tuesday to the criticism launched by Ione Belarra this Monday in full electoral hangover, when he reproached the leader of Sumar for having lost “700,000 votes and many seats” to “the worst result of Podemos”, also criticizing that “the strategy of renouncing feminism and making Podemos invisible has not worked electorally”.
The general secretary of Podemos thus broke the truce agreed for the electoral campaign and again opened fire against the candidate, who a day later replied with data to the purple leader. Sumar achieved on Sunday 3,014,006 votes and 31 seatsa result that represents a setback compared to the representation that all the parties in the space obtained in 2019, but which was celebrated as a success, as it became a decisive piece in reissuing the coalition government.
The triumphant air that was breathed in the headquarters of Sumar on Sunday night contrasted with the serious face of Belarra, who accompanied Yolanda Díaz on stage during the celebration. Barely twelve hours after that scene, the purple general secretary broadcast a video on networks where she launched harsh criticism of Díaz and pushed away any hint of celebration. With this message, the open battle for Podemos was reopened after the veto of Irene Montero on the Sumar lists. A struggle that the party left in stand by during the last weeks, where they only campaigned in those territories where their representation was at stake.
UP’s million votes
After the open offensive, Yolanda Díaz has spoken about these words. “In the last electoral process [las autonómicas y municipales del 28 de mayo], Unidas Podemos obtained a million votesthat’s the only thing I’m saying”, recalled the Galician in an interview in Red Hotfrom La Sexta, where he has limited himself to considering that “the parties own their words.”
Related news
He did want to reply to Belarra’s criticism for having “renounced feminism”, a note that makes direct reference to the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, whom Podemos places as the champion of the feminist movement. Díaz has flatly rejected this thesis, recalling that “feminism belongs to nobody”. In this sense, she has pointed out that “feminism is the most important emancipatory movement we have”, and wanted to remember that far from personalizing the movement, “there are many women behind us who have been working for decades to broaden rights”.
Thus, she has insisted that “Sumar’s feminism is a 99% feminism that does not fall into the traps that the right and ultra-right want, which is to divide us”, she continued, deploying her feminist thesis against “trench feminism” that has already openly rejected the project. “They are going to find us in Sumar with a feminism in favor, what a sum, that is not about a war of the sexes as the right has made it in this campaign, and where the men who fight against machismo and transphobia also walk to achieve freedoms”.