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Podemos leader quits as deputy PM to run for top Madrid post


Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the hard-left party Podemos and a deputy prime minister in Spain’s ruling coalition, has said he is stepping down to run for head of the Madrid region.

“I have informed [the prime minister] Pedro Sánchez about my decision to leave my post in government when the campaign begins,” he said in a video message posted on social media, referring to the election scheduled for 4 May. “Madrid needs a leftwing government and I believe I can be useful in helping to win and lead it.”

The former professor of political science took up his position as one of four deputy prime ministers in January 2020, leading Podemos – formed in 2014 – into government for the first time.

His surprise resignation announcement came a day after a regional court gave the go-ahead for the snap election, which was called last week after the collapse of the region’s ruling coalition, which grouped the rightwing People’s party (PP) and the centre-right Citizens party.

The decision to call an early election was taken by the PP’s Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who resigned as Madrid’s regional leader on Wednesday, breaking the coalition deal with the Citizens party and raising questions as to whether other regional rightwing tie-ups would follow suit.



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