Podemos is deepening its crisis. The party's organizational secretary, Lilith Verstrynge, announced on Friday that she was leaving her post in the formation's executive branch and the post of deputy. The resignation of the previous number three towards Ione Belarra, a profile of the hard core of the former minister, comes just six months after winning the seat in the general elections on the list for Barcelona together with members of Catalunya en Comú. His departure leaves Podemos with four MPs in the lower house, who now belong to the Mixed Group following Sumar's split in December, and the ruling coalition gains another one.
“Farewells are difficult and sad. I leave behind my political responsibilities and also the deputy's file. A thousand thanks to the activism of Podemos and to the people who have trusted me during these years,” he said in a message on the social network X (formerly Twitter) this afternoon, without giving further details about the decision. Sources from the party leadership limited themselves to “thanking” him for his work and emphasized that in recent months, from a position of highest responsibility, he has managed particularly complicated matters, coinciding with the negotiations with Yolanda Díaz's coalition, a Task that they describe as “very demanding”. and “that was developed under very difficult conditions,” they emphasize. “The most important thing now is that you take care of yourself and that you are well. We can always be your home. Thank you for so much work under such difficult conditions. A huge hug,” Belarra reiterated on social media. “The priority is now yours. “We love you and we will continue on the path together,” number two, Irene Montero, dedicated to her.
Farewells are difficult and sad. I leave behind my political responsibilities and also the deputy's file.
A thousand thanks to the militancy of Podemos and to the people who trusted me during these years.
— Lilith Verstrynge (@LilithVerstryng) January 26, 2024
Verstrynge (Madrid, 31 years old) was trained in France and started at Podemos as an intern and later as an assistant in the European Parliament. Later, she was an advisor to the Second Vice Presidency of the Government with Pablo Iglesias and participated in his candidacy for the Madrid regional elections in March 2021. Although she was not elected deputy at the time, in June of the same year she assumed responsibility for the organization in that of Belarra funded team and was appointed State Secretary for Agenda 2030, a department dependent on social rights, in the summer of 2022. The leader replaced the post of United Left MP Enrique Santiago after he lost the confidence of the general secretary of Podemos during negotiations on a common list in Andalusia.
Verstrynge is the fourth organizational secretary the party has held in its decade of existence, a particularly complex position for a party whose biggest Achilles heel is its territorial structure. Sergio Pascual, Pablo Echenique and Alberto Rodríguez previously held the position, two of them already out of the formation. His departure leaves a new void in a direction that has been declining in recent months, with the resignations of Chief Economic Officer Nacho Álvarez, municipal politician Jesús Santos or housing boss Alejandra Jacinto, among others. Belarra will reshuffle the executive branch in December.
By leaving the register of representatives, the party also loses one of its five seats in Congress. As the list goes, it will be in the hands of the common people, with the entry of Candela López: coordinator of the party with Ada Colau and Jessica Albiach, she was previously a member of the Initiative for Catalunya Verds and is a profile close to the Head of the political cabinet of Vice President Díaz, Josep Vendrell. Sumar won 31 MPs in the June 23 general election. After the departure of the five Podemos deputies to the Mixed Group in Congress, they remained at 26. Now Sumar is recovering by one more. At the same time, the formation led by Belarra remains without parliamentary representatives in Catalonia. Yolanda López, the only one who had Podem in Parliament, has just torn up her card.
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Lilith Verstrynge with Ione Belarra, Irene Montero and deputies Martina Velarde (left), Noemí Santana and Javier Sánchez Serna upon their arrival at Congress last August. Rodrigo Jiménez (EFE)
The party has been in a serious crisis for months and lost five of the six regional executive committees to which it was a member in the May 28 elections. In addition, the negotiations to form a government left it without portfolios, having held two (equality and social rights) in the last legislative period, and the organization is facing an ERE that affects almost the entire territory. In addition to the loss of institutional representation, the five MPs decided last December to break with Sumar and join the Congress' Joint Group to exercise their “political autonomy”.
Frame leak
The flight of cadres has also been a constant in recent times (such as that of the former candidate for the Madrid City Council, Roberto Sotomayor), many of whom ended up in the project of the vice president, who is preparing her first meeting on March 23 . Outside the party, Canal Red, the television channel led by Pablo Iglesias, canceled the same week the show of Podemos co-founder Juan Carlos Monedero, another voice that until recently was close to the management, although without an organic position. Iglesias is still a figure of authority and enormous popularity among the bases and the departure of the political scientist from his channel testifies to a distancing from the current strategy of the organization, as he himself explained on the networks. Even without knowing the exact reasons, Verstrynge's departure hits the party again in its lowest phase.