Spain’s Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz confirmed Sunday that she’s planning to run for the premiership, a move that could help Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s own reelection bid.
(Bloomberg) — Spain’s Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz confirmed Sunday that she’s planning to run for the premiership, a move that could help Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s own reelection bid.
“I want to be Spain’s first female” prime minister, Díaz said during an event to present her new political movement, Sumar. Díaz, who also serves as a deputy prime minister, is the highest ranking official named by the government’s junior coalition partner, Unidas Podemos. She is a member of Spain’s Communist Party.
Polls regularly show Diaz as the government official with the highest approval rating, and how well her party performs in Spain’s general elections later this year will prove crucial for Sanchez, who has announced he wants to retain his job. The most recent polls signal he’ll be unable to form a government and may need to see a new coalition with Podemos and its allies. The parties that will be joining Sumar all stand to the left of Sanchez’s Socialist Party and a good showing by Sumar and its allies could lead to a stronger Socialist-led coalition.
Since becoming minister when the coalition was formed in 2020, Diaz has overseen a sweeping labor reform, a decline in unemployment and she played a crucial role in creating a broad jobs furlough program during the pandemic.
Although the elections aren’t expected until November or December, Diaz’s nomination is being followed closely as she has been locked in a public standoff with Podemos’s top officials, including two of her fellow ministers. The dispute revolves around whether to hold primaries to pick Sumar’s candidates among all the parties that join the movement and whether to open up the primaries to all voters.
Sumar won’t participate in municipal and regional elections slated to take place May 28, a key test for Sanchez’s party.
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