ADDS MORE DETAILS
By Alyssa McMurtry
OVIEDO, Spain (AA) – Pablo Iglesias, the leader and co-founder of Spain’s far-left Podemos party, announced late Tuesday that he is resigning from “institutional politics.”
His announcement comes after he placed fifth in Madrid regional elections.
“During this campaign, we saw an unprecedented increase in aggression from right-wing parties, a normalization of fascist discourse in the media, death threats…and my conscious tells me I’ve become a scapegoat that serves to mobilize our darkest anti-democratic forces,” he said in his resignation speech.
“Political intelligence should be above everything. To be useful to Unidas Podemos is my top goal. I think that it’s obvious, and these results show, that I don’t contribute to helping the party.”
Iglesias co-created Podemos from an anti-austerity protest movement that began in 2011.
The former political science professor led the party to win its first political representation in 2014.
Podemos blew apart Spain’s two-party system and eventually made its way into the country’s first coalition government.
Prior to running in the Madrid elections, Iglesias was deputy vice prime minister of Spain and minister of social rights.
Rumors had been circulating that the unexpected move to leave his powerful post to run in regional elections was a sign of his retreat from politics.
Podemos was and remains the weakest left-wing force in the Madrid regional parliament.
Iglesias’s candidacy helped boost his party’s support slightly, but not enough to surpass the other left-wing parties or prevent the overwhelming victory of Popular Party candidate Isabel Ayuso.
Mas Madrid, which broke off from Podemos in 2019, was elected as the main opposition party in Madrid.
“Tonight’s results, with the victory of the Trumpist right, are a tragedy,” he said. “As the left-wing block, we’ve failed.”
“The turnout was high, even in the neighborhoods we targeted, and that was our goal. But it didn’t work out how we thought. It’s only helped reinforce the position of the far-right,” he said. “We can see my role is limiting. We need to make decisions without a second thought.”
Iglesias said that Podemos will push to “feminize the political space.” He pegged Yolanda Diaz, Spain’s Minister of Labor, as the country’s next prime minister.
Iglesias’ wife, Irene Montero, will remain Spain’s Minister of Equality.
“Seven years ago, we couldn’t have imagined how far we’d come. I’m enormously proud to have led a political project that changed our country’s history,” said Iglesias.
“Hasta siempre,” he said, in a nod to the Cuban revolution.
