Sumar reaches its first agreement for the generals with the Drago Project of Alberto Rodríguez

2023-06-06 19:37:32

Sumar has already reached its first agreement for the coalition that it intends to articulate for the general elections. He has done it with Proyecto Drago, the party that the former ‘number three’ of Podemos founded after leaving the party two years ago, to focus his political activity on the Canary Islands. As announced by the formation itself through a press release, the agreement was reached this afternoon.

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“It is time to look to the future, have the will to add, to integrate. We went out to win, on 23J we can have an institutional policy that is more similar to our people”, writes the party in a statement indicating that the agreement has already been endorsed by its confederal assembly. The pact includes the two constituencies of the Canary Islands, although the party does not provide details at the moment on whether Rodríguez will be the one who heads the Sumar lists in one of these two candidacies.

“The agreement has been carried out from the best of wills and maintaining discretion on the ongoing negotiations; the agreement respects the canarian obedience in decision-making; the agreement has been carried out with deadlines and content, and we firmly believe that it places the Canary Islands in a framework of mutual respect with other territories and transforming forces of the State as a whole; The agreement has been endorsed by the majority of the Drago Canarias confederal assembly”, they point out.

From Drago we announce that our political space has reached an agreement with @summer to run together in the next general elections of the #23J.

Seriousness and breadth of vision to defend the interests of the Canarian citizenry in Congress. We went out to win ❤️????

⬇️

— DRAGO (@drago_canarias) June 6, 2023

Beyond these details, the party does not clarify the content of the agreement at the moment, especially if Alberto Rodríguez or other members of Drago will lead the lists either in Tenerife or in Las Palmas or how the future coalition’s resources will be distributed. The main unknown is to know if Sumar proposes that in the Canary Islands there is a presence of other formations such as Podemos or Izquierda Unida for the starting positions or the lowest positions. In 2019, Unidas Podemos obtained a seat for each of these candidacies and four years ago they had two for Las Palmas.

Alberto Rodríguez created this party after clashing with Podemos and abandoning that force. The conflict arose as a result of the controversial decision of the president of Congress, Meritxell Batet, to withdraw his seat in interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling declaring it proven that he kicked a national police officer in a demonstration in La Laguna in 2014. The conviction of 45 days in jail was replaced by a fine in addition to compensation and after several days Congress opted to withdraw the act.

The former deputy, who became secretary of the Podemos Organization, broke with the party, among other things, because he did not feel supported after Batet’s decision, which has meant that the parliamentary group has been with one less seat since then. Rodríguez rejoined the Tenerife oil factory where he worked before entering politics and from that position began the journey of his new political project, which practically from the beginning has had the second vice president of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, as an ally.

For the last elections, an alliance of parties including Compromís or Más País joined the Turia Agreement, which are now also seeking their integration into Sumar. In the Canary Islands, specifically for 28M, it was presented in coalition with Verdes Equo and Los Verdes Canarias, under the Drago Verdes Canarias brand. The candidacy did not achieve enough votes to obtain representation in the parliament of the Islands, but Rodríguez managed to be a councilor for La Laguna, where he also ran and where, together with the other bank that obtained the project, he could be decisive for the PSOE to achieve Mayor’s office.