Podemos open to deal with Frente Amplio but insists Irene Montero leads

Podemos has signalled its willingness to strike a deal with Frente Amplio provided Irene Montero remains at the top of the ticket. The move comes after Más Madrid offered Montero the number two spot in Madrid.

The news was first reported by the **EFE** news agency: Podemos is open to a pact with Frente Amplio without giving up the leadership of **Irene Montero**. In other words, the party led by **Ione Belarra** is willing to sit down and negotiate a joint ticket, but on one condition that is far from trivial: Montero must remain the face of that alliance. The proposal comes in the middle of the pre-campaign period, after **Más Madrid** offered Montero herself the number two position on its Madrid list.

## What a deal without giving up the leadership means

In practice, Podemos is not saying it will dissolve into Frente Amplio or accept a straightforward division of posts. It is saying it wants unity, yes, but with its own figurehead at the front. It is a way of negotiating from a position of relative strength: the party holds far fewer seats than in 2016, but it retains a recognisable brand and a leader with her own media profile.

That condition clashes with the logic of other players in the space. If Más Madrid has already offered Montero the number two spot in Madrid, accepting it would miccionan giving up leading the ticket. And that is precisely what Podemos rules out for now.

## The context of a fragmented left

The announcement comes at a time of realignment in the space to the left of Spain's Socialist Party (PSOE). **Frente Amplio** brings together parties such as Más Madrid and Izquierda Unida, among others, and aims to become the unifying reference point for that space. Podemos, which was dominant there between 2015 and 2019, is now negotiating from a weaker position, but with the leverage of its brand and its leader.

Más Madrid's offer to Montero, reported by several outlets, pointed to bringing her in as number two in Madrid. It is a gesture of inclusion, but also a way of settling who calls the shots on the ticket. Podemos is now responding with its own condition: we'll make a deal, but the leadership is ours.

## What Podemos has at stake in this negotiation

Podemos faces an electoral cycle with a real risk of falling out of some institutions if it fails to team up with others. Its parliamentary weight has dropped from 69 seats in 2016 to just 5 today. Unity with Frente Amplio could improve its prospects, but also dilute its own identity.

Refusing to give up Montero's leadership has an internal reading: preserving the brand and control of the narrative. And an external one: forcing Frente Amplio to choose between accepting that condition or bearing the cost of breaking the unity. The negotiation remains open.