Podemos loses €7.8 million and nears insolvency

Podemos loses €7.8 million and edges closer to insolvency

How long can a political party survive with its accounts in the red and its net worth halved in four years? The question hangs over Spanish politics after Podemos' financial statements came to light: €7.8 million in accumulated losses and a balance sheet that is dangerously close to the precipice.

The figure, published by Mediterráneo Digital, has peine the debate about the financial viability of the purple party. This is not a one-off bad year: it is the sum of four consecutive years of losses. And the breakdown matters as much as the total.

The breakdown of the haemorrhage: 2023 was the year of the crash

The available data breaks down the bleeding precisely. In 2023, the year of the electoral crash on 23 July, Podemos lost €4.687 million, twelve times more than the previous year. In 2024, losses fell to €2.147 million. And in 2025, the last closed financial year, the hole was €634,000.

There are two ways to read this. The pessimistic one: the party has been in the red for four years and has burned through an enormous amount of resources. The optimistic one: the haemorrhage is closing, not accelerating. The 2025 loss is 87% lower than in 2023. But the accumulated damage weighs heavily.

Net worth: from €20.2 million to €10.7 million

Podemos' net worth has fallen from €20.2 million in 2021 to €10.7 million in 2025. In other words, practically half of its financial cushion has disappeared in four years. The phrase "suspension of payments" (insolvency) appears in the debate, although the balance sheets do not entirely support it: net worth remains positive, but the trend is undeniably downward.

Some argue that the situation is a real emergency, while others recall that political parties in Spain rarely reach technical bankruptcy. Public funding, bank loans and donations allow the agony to be stretched out. But the uncomfortable question remains: how long can a party survive with this rate of losses?

The human factor: departures, crowdfunding and strategy

The analysis of the accounts intersects with political reality. The party has lost institutional weight, media presence and, above all, mobilisation capacity. The crowdfunding that once financed campaigns and structures no longer performs as it used to. And the exodus of party officials to other political projects leaves a void that is difficult to fill.

Some analyses suggest that the survival strategy involves concentrating efforts in Madrid, where the party seeks to maintain institutional representation. Others, more sceptical, recall that the party has already gone through a painful split and that the electoral cycle does not favour a brand that was once a symbol of new politics and now seems a vestige of it.

What does the Court of Auditors say?

The debate has also brought to light the role of the Court of Auditors (Tribunal de Cuentas) in auditing political parties. The data the body handles on loans and debts of political groups differ greatly from the figures the parties themselves declare. The difference between €1.7 million and €8 million is not a minor detail: it is the distance between tight management and a structural hole.

The conclusion that imposes itself is uncomfortable for everyone. Podemos has not gone bankrupt, but its room for manoeuvre has been drastically reduced. And in politics, as in business, a lack of liquidity ends up conditioning decisions long before the precipice arrives. The next electoral appointment will tell whether the party can recover or whether the bleeding has an expiry date.

Meanwhile, net worth continues to fall and the balance sheets do not lie: politics is also played in the numbers, and Podemos' numbers have been in the red for four years.