Antonio Maíllo has decisively won the federal coordination primaries of Izquierda Unida. The former leader from Andalusia received 53.4% of the support, far ahead of his main competitor, Youth and Childhood Minister Sira Rego, who received only 23.4% of the vote, with a difference of 30 points. After six days of voting and months of internal battles to gain control of the organization, Maíllo will now lead comfortably for the next four years. The new leader will succeed Alberto Garzón as the head of the party and will be officially proclaimed coordinator on Sunday at the second day of the XIII Federal Assembly of the party.
Maíllo, a 57-year-old from Lucena, who holds a degree in Classical Philology and currently works as a Latin teacher at a high school in Seville, led IU Andalucía from 2013 to 2019. He was also a deputy in the Andalusian Parliament and spokesperson for the group since 2015, where he reached an agreement with Teresa Rodríguez to run in 2018 with Podemos under the name Adelante Andalucía. In 2019, he left politics and returned to teaching. Maíllo had the support of his federation, the largest in Spain with nearly 30% of the IU census, and the leadership of the PCE, including Secretary General Enrique Santiago, was among the prominent members of his list.
The results of the primaries were met with satisfaction by Maíllo’s team, who expressed excitement for the new stage ahead. Both Maíllo and Rego, who was congratulated by Minister Yolanda Díaz, have stressed the importance of building a strong and cohesive organization moving forward. The key differences between the two main candidates revolved around the strategy regarding integration in Yolanda Díaz’s platform, with Maíllo advocating for a broad front with deeper ties to the project, while Rego preferred a mere electoral coalition. The incoming leadership will have to define in the coming months the relationship model with Sumar, a platform that Maíllo has clearly favored integrating with.
The current leadership structure of Izquierda Unida was largely united in their political proposals for the next term, with both Maíllo and Rego sharing a common vision. However, critics like Aguilera and García Rubio, who garnered support from those dissatisfied with the current Executive Committee, are more reluctant to form alliances with the platform led by the second vice president of the government. Although IU had initially planned to be part of the Sumar list for the European elections, recent debates within the party have put that decision on hold until after discussions at the assembly.
In total, Maíllo’s list received the support of 4,463 members, while Rego gained 1,957 votes, Aguilera obtained 1,178 votes, and García Rubio received 697 votes. A small percentage of the census, 56 affiliates, left their ballots blank. Despite being a highly competitive primary, the overall participation was higher than in the first assembly to elect the Sumar leadership. The new coordinator, Maíllo, is set to lead Izquierda Unida into the next phase with a focus on building a stronger and more territorially-rooted organization.
