Valencian nationalists go for new left-wing party

VALENCIAN nationalist coalition Compromís has announced its allegiance with a new left-wing party in the runup to the new general elections.

Compromís will be going hand-in-hand with the Mas Madríd party - an excision of Podemos led by Pablo Iglesias former right-hand man Iñigo Errejón.

Members of Mas Madrid (currently only represented at Madrid regional parliament and town halls) voted on Sunday in favour of presenting candidates for national parliament. They also decided their leader Iñigo Errejón would be their main candidate.

The party will clash directly with far-left-wing Unidas Podemos, which whom Valencian nationalist Compromís have sided occasionally in Madrid.

However, it is also expected to gain votes from the PSOE party due to the socialists' failure to negotiate a sound government with other left-wing parties.

On Monday afternoon, Compromís' only MP Juan Baldoví (part of the Bloc party within the coalition) said he favoured Errejón and later in the evening and following a full Compromís board meeting including Valencia regional vice-president Monica Oltra, the coalition announced it would be siding with Mas Madrid - which will be seeking a new name to run in the national ballot.

Compromís is in itself a coalition of the three parties: Bloc Nacionalista Valenciá (commonly called Bloc), Iniciativa Pel Poble Valenciá (Iniciativa) and green party Verds Equo del Pais Valenciá.

Valencia mayor Joan Ribó is a Compromís member and it has 17 regional MPs and is part of the regional ruling coalition (Pacto del Botánic) with PSOE led by president Ximo Puig and also Podemos.

Whether or not Compromís’s decision to go with Mas Madrid will have an impact on the regional coalition remains to be seen.