Spain’s deputy PM to launch new left-wing political platform

OVIEDO, Spain

Yolanda Diaz, Spain’s labor minister and deputy prime minister, announced Thursday that she is launching a new left-wing political platform in July.

The platform will be called Sumar, which means "to add" in Spanish.

In an interview with broadcaster La Sexta, Diaz said all of Spain’s divergent left-wing parties such as Podemos, the United Left and Mas Pais will be invited to join.

Diaz is Spain’s most popular politician, according to the latest monthly political barometer published by Spain’s Center for Sociological Investigation (CIS).

As the minister of labor, she spearheaded the country’s recent labor reform, which has seen apparent success.

In April, for instance, nearly half of new employees were hired into permanent positions. Before the labor reform, around 90% of job contracts in Spain were temporary.

She was also the labor minister when Spain reached the target of 20 million people working for the first time.

While the anti-austerity Podemos may be Spain’s most well-known left-wing party, Diaz’s roots trace back to the United Left. However, Podemos and the United Left merged in 2016 to form Unidos Podemos.

The left-wing formation is now the junior coalition partner in the Spanish government, with Diaz holding the highest position in the group.

On July 8 in Madrid, Diaz and her platform Sumar will kick off a countrywide listening tour to gather ideas about what Spanish residents want.

For now, she is not guaranteeing that the platform will run in Spain’s next elections, or whether or not she will lead a new party.

“Political parties are indispensable, and we’ll get there when the time comes … I promise that when I’m done with the listening tour, a decision will be made that won’t be mine. It will be collective,” she told La Sexta.

Diaz comes from a family of trade union activists in Galicia, and is a registered lawyer, specializing in labor law.