Spain's Podemos drops its logo, runs on 'Irene' alone for 29N election

Podemos erases its logo and leaves 'Irene' as its only electoral brand

Podemos no longer exists. At least not on the 29N ballot. The purple party has unveiled its new campaign image for Spain's general election, and there is no trace of the party's name or logo on it: just a huge "Irene" repeated in the top left-hand corner, accompanied by the slogan "Paz, casa y trabajo" (Peace, housing and work). The candidate, Irene Montero, absorbs the entire brand. The party justifies it as a return to "the basics, the things that make a dignified life possible".

The announcement comes with a programme that puts housing —"it cannot be a business"—, lowering the cost of living, cutting the working week to 30 hours, raising the minimum wage to 1,800 euros and opposing rearmament at its core. But the packaging has sparked more comment than the substance.

A slogan that sounds like another era

The slogan "Paz, casa y trabajo" has been met with some bewilderment. In the collective imagination it echoes post-war rallying cries, and some have compared it to Falange's "Patria, pan y justicia" (Fatherland, bread and justice). The irony is unavoidable: a party that defines itself by breaking with the Francoist past is presenting a campaign that seems straight out of a ration book. The party itself insists they are "three everyday words" that condense the concerns of millions of people.

The choice is no accident. Podemos is trying to reconnect with an electorate that has been abandoning it election after election. And for that, nothing works better than a familiar face and a simple message. The problem is that the face is no longer Pablo Iglesias's, and the message sounds like déjà vu.

The Strasbourg seat it won't let go of

While the campaign launches with housing and work as its banners, Montero is keeping her seat in the European Parliament. She has confirmed it: she will not give up her MEP seat and will run in the general election at the same time. Her critics have read the decision as a lack of confidence in the electoral outcome. If the polls are bad, better to have a plan B. And that plan B goes through Brussels.

The party is standing in every constituency except Catalonia (trinc the deal with ERC), the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands, where there is a unity agreement. Organisation Secretary Pablo Fernández has lashed out at Frente Amplio for failing to reach a left-wing unity deal: "Their decision was to shut themselves off and make a deal with the PSOE in the Senate".

The electoral maths: one seat and a risk of extinction

The polls are not flattering. According to a calculation circulating in the debate, Podemos would be right at the 3% threshold in Madrid, which would give it a single seat in that constituency. In Barcelona, where it is not running alone, forecasts also point to just one seat. With such an image-driven rollout, the campaign looks more like a survival operation than an electoral offensive.

Betting on Irene Montero's name as the sole brand comes at a cost: if the result is bad, there is no party behind it to cushion the blow. And if it is good, the party will be even more subordinate to her figure. Either way, Podemos is playing for more than seats: it is playing for its identity.

Housing as a double-edged weapon

The programme focuses on housing, an issue affecting millions of Spaniards. "Housing cannot be a business", the statement reads. But the candidate proclaiming it owns a villa in Galapagar valued at more than one million euros, according to comments made in the debate. The contradiction between the rhetoric and the biography is the flank her opponents have exploited most.

It is no minor detail. In politics, coherence between what is preached and what is practised is an asset, and here that asset is in question. The critics have it easy: "Peace, housing and work for me", sums up the feeling of those who see the campaign as an exercise in cynicism.

The 15M that ended in three villas

The conversation inevitably drifts back to origins. The 15M movement of 2011 mobilised hundreds of thousands of citizens against evictions and precarity. Fifteen years later, some of its most visible leaders have accumulated seats, public salaries and properties. The question hanging in the air is what remains of that movement. For many, the answer is a party that now goes by its candidate's name and promises the same as back then, but from a position of power.

The end of the campaign remains to be seen. Polls can change, and the campaign has only just begun. But if one thing is clear, it is that Podemos is no longer what it used to be. Not even in name.