Esquerra Unida i Alternativa

Esquerra Unida i Alternativa (EUiA; in Spanish, Izquierda Unida y Alternativa) is a political party Catalan. They define themselves as a political and social movement, with a socialist orientation. Currently, it is formed as a political and social movement, and is co-coordinated by Mercedes Vidal Lago and Hector Sánchez Mira.

It declares itself as a national, Catalan, sovereignist and republican, federal, anti-capitalist and solidarity political and social movement in which social political forces and left-wing people are concentrated. He is a member of the European Left Party and, during the period between 1998 and 2019, he was the benchmark for the United Left in Catalonia. and was part of En Comú Podem. In the process of the 2023 municipal elections, EUiA is presenting some agreements with Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya.

History

Background

In 1987 the Iniciativa per Catalunya federation had been created, under the impulse of the PSUC, and with the participation of Entesa dels Nacionalistes d'Esquerra (ENE) and the Communist Party of Catalonia (PCC), whose purpose It was not only to recompose the Catalan communist space, seriously affected by the internal and electoral crisis of the early eighties, but also sought to build a new political discourse and open up to new social movements. Later, Els Verds - CEC would join, forming Iniciativa per Catalunya - Els Verds.

As a result of different tensions, the coalition broke up in 1997 when the PCC abandoned the coalition and, at the same time, an important sector of the PSUC, opposed to its dissolution in the IC, formed the PSUC-viu. EUiA was founded in 1998 by various political entities, among which the PSUC Viu (a group that emerged from the PSUC) and the Partit dels Comunistes de Catalunya (PCC) stand out, and which were joined by the Catalan section of PASOC, the libertarian collectives, and the Col·lectiu per una Esquerra Alternativa.

From 1998 to 2000 Antoni Lucchetti, leader of the PSUC Viu, held the position of EUiA coordinator, headed the party list in the 1999 regional elections and led the group in the 1998 municipal and 2000 general elections The EUiA participated in all of them alone (municipal and regional) or in an electoral coalition with Izquierda Unida (general and European). In October 2000, the II Assembly of the formation took place, which was resolved with the appointment of Jordi Miralles i Conte, a member of the PCC, as the new general coordinator of the organization, after the presentation of four lists, two of which they were headed by Luchetti and Miralles respectively.

The change in the general coordination gave rise to a change in the political strategy of the EUiA, which went from a belligerent attitude with the Iniciativa per Catalunya-Verds to the search for an electoral agreement, approved in the National Council held on the 22nd of February 2002. These negotiations would culminate a few months later in a proposed agreement, which would be approved by vote on July 6, 2002. In this way, EUiA was integrated into the new coalition Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds - Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, acronym under which he attended different elections to the Congress of Deputies and the Parliament of Catalonia. A few months later, in March 2003, the EUiA held its III Assembly, in which Jordi Miralles was re-elected coordinator, against the two alternative candidacies presented by PSUC-Viu and the Rojos/Roges current.

After the III Assembly, EUiA participated in the municipal elections in May, within the framework of the Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds - Esquerra Unida i Alternativa -Entesa de Progrés Municipal coalition, and in the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia on 16 November 2003, as Initiative for Catalonia Greens - Esquerra Alternativa. In those elections, EUiA reached sixty councilors, the mayoralty of Martorellas and Jordi Miralles was elected deputy of the Parliament of Catalonia. Likewise, different members of the EUiA reached government responsibilities, mainly in the Department of Environment and Habitatge of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

In the fourth assembly of the group, held in July 2005, Jordi Miralles once again confirmed his position as general coordinator. The Nou Impuls candidacy, made up of the PCC, part of the PSUC viu, PASOC, POR and independents obtained 73% of the support of the delegates. The other candidacy, made up of PSUC Viu, Rojos Roges and independents and headed by David Rodríguez, got the remaining 27%.

The holding of early elections to the Catalan Parliament on November 1, 2006, allowed EUiA to have two deputies for the Barcelona constituency, who were its general coordinator Jordi Miralles and Merce Civit. Likewise, the person in charge of political action of the organization and member of the Permanent Commission of the United Left, Joan Josep Nuet, was appointed as an autonomous senator. As far as the government is concerned, Joan Pallisé held the General Directorate of the Natural Environment; Félix Alonso the General Directorate of Institutional Relations, and David Rodríguez was director of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia.

On November 8 and 9, 2008, the V National Assembly of the organization was held, in which the activity of EUiA in the labor movement was valued, as well as its participation in the institutions. The strengthening of the organization was confirmed (for the first time there were more than 4,000 affiliates) as well as internal cohesion (the coordinator, Jordi Miralles, was re-elected with 89% of the votes, leading a single consensus list).

A new stage

On June 4, 2012, at the VI National Assembly of the EUiA, the general secretary of the PCC and deputy of the Congress, Joan Josep Nuet, was elected as the new general coordinator of the EUiA with 85% of the votes. In the assembly debate, the analysis is carried out that the ICV-EUiA coalition is politically surpassed and the need to create a "new space" that brings together the different Catalan transforming lefts and social movements is raised. On July 9, Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, and the Popular Unity Candidacy, signed a document in which they promised to promote joint initiatives on a series of issues such as the defense of the Right to Self-determination. At the Political Conference held on October 27, 2013, under the slogan "For a constituent project for Catalonia", EUiA is committed to the exercise of the right of self-determination of Catalonia and the creation of a Catalan republic freely federated with Spain.

In the process of overcoming the ICV-EUiA coalition, both organizations organize a meeting open to other formations and movements with the motto "Now is tomorrow" in February 2014. In 2015 he participated in the Barcelona en Comú municipal confluence in the municipal elections (together with the activists who promoted Guanyem Barcelona, Iniciativa and Podemos, among others.), getting Mercedes Vidal to be a councilor, and participating in the city government until the tensions between the commons and EUiA lead to Vidal leaving the government in the spring of 2019. In the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, EUiA signs a coalition with Iniciativa, Podemos and Equo with the name Catalunya Sí Que Es Pot (CSQEP), a coalition in which the activists of Guanyem Barcelona do not participate and, in the final phase of the negotiation, the Constituent Process is picked up. Among the CSQEP deputies is the general coordinator of EUiA, Joan Josep Nuet.

After a negotiation process, EUiA joined the candidacy of En Comú Podem in the general elections of December 2015, having generated an internal debate in which a sector, in the minority, preferred to run alone together with UI. EUiA would obtain two deputies in those elections and, later, it will run together with En Comú Podem in the general elections of June 2016 and April 2019. After the crisis in Catalunya en Comú, EUiA will choose not to run in the elections November 2019 and give freedom of vote to its affiliates and supporters.

EUiA participates in the confluence process at the Catalan level and promotes the foundation of Catalunya en Comú, forming part of the management team of Xavier Domènech. EUiA is committed to participating in the Catalan independence referendum on October 1, 2017 as a political mobilization, a proposal that is also approved in the commons after a close debate and an internal referendum. In the Catalan elections of December 2017, EUiA participated in the list of Catalunya en Comú, led by Xavier Domènech and Elisenda Alamany. In the following months, the leadership of the commons is reconfigured and the most sovereign sectors -among which was the leadership of EUiA- are relegated to a secondary role, this process reaches such a point of tension that it leads to the resignation of Xavier Domenech.

The majority of the EUiA, hand in hand with Comunistes de Catalunya, will form a critical current in the commons, Sobiranistes, which will end up running in the two general elections of 2019 in coalition with Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya.

Break of relations with Izquierda Unida

On June 8, 2019, Izquierda Unida broke relations with Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, after learning that members of EUiA had launched a political project called Sobiranistes, with the intention of running in the elections together with Esquerra Republicana (ERC). Finally, on July 3, 2019, the open Assembly of Esquerra Unida Catalunya was held with the presence of Alberto Garzón in San Adrián de Besós, Barcelona, a new organization that would become the territorial organization of IU in Catalonia. In this process, the PSUC Viu leaves EUiA, along with other charges and individual militants to join the IU federation.

The new direction of EUiA

After the political process of 2018 and 2019, the EUiA abandoned Catalunya en Comú, since it considered that the commons had strayed from its founding ideology and distanced itself from sovereignty. In the spring of 2019, Joan Josep Nuet leaves the general coordination of EUiA, and Hector Sánchez Mira and Mercedes Vidal Lago assume the leadership as general co-coordinators. After not participating in the November 2019 general elections and the 2021 Catalan Parliament elections, EUiA announces municipal agreements for the 2023 local elections with Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya.

On February 4, 2023, EUiA held its eighth national assembly, renewing the leadership headed by Hector Sánchez and Mercedes Vidal, betting on a broad front of the sovereignist left to avoid "sociovergence".

Election results

In the 2004 general elections, the coalition obtained 234,790 votes (5.84%), which translated into two seats, both for ICV and for Barcelona (number three for Barcelona, from EUiA, did not obtain a seat). The 2008 elections represented a significant setback, with the loss of more than 50,000 votes and one seat (181,753 votes, 4.93%).

In the elections to the Senate, as part of the Entesa Catalana de Progrés, EUiA did not obtain representation in the 2008 elections, but it did by appointment of the Parliament of Catalonia in December 2006: Josep Nuet. In the regional elections of November 2010, EUiA got 2 deputies for the Barcelona constituency, while ICV got 6 for it. The coalition total rose to 10 deputies for Catalonia, losing its previous deputy for Lleida and another for Barcelona.

In the 2011 municipal elections, EUiA increased its number of councilors by 11%, reaching 63 and the absolute or relative majority that allowed it to govern in three municipalities. Montornés del Vallés (absolute majority with 9 councillors), Olesa de Montserrat (relative majority with 9 councillors) and Altafulla (relative majority with 4 councillors). In addition, EUiA participates in the more than 20 mayoralties of the coalition throughout Catalonia, such as Sant Felíu de Llobregat or El Prat de Llobregat.

In the 2011 elections for the Spanish Parliament, ICV-EUiA obtained three deputies and 279,599 votes, with a percentage of 8.09%. Of these 3 deputies, 1 of them is Joan Josep Nuet, a member of Esquerra Unida i Alternativa. In the 2015 elections, EUiA participated in the En Comú Podem coalition, obtaining two deputies, as it will also do in 2016, repeating the results. EUiA is still formally participating in the En Comú Podem coalition in the April 2019 general elections, but will not gain representation; in the replay of November 2019 EUiA no longer reaches an agreement with the commons.

In the 2012 regional elections, EUiA obtained 3 deputies, in coalition with ICV. In those of 2015 he will obtain one, in the Catalunya Sí Que Es Pot coalition, a seat that he will reissue in the Catalunya en Comú - Podem coalition in the December 2017 elections. After the EUiA break with Catalunya en Comú in 2019, he participates in the 2021 parliamentary elections.

First Elections

Elections to the Parliament of Catalonia