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United Left Izquierda Unida | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General Coordinator | Antonio Maíllo |
| Founded | April 1986(as coalition) 2 November 1992(as party federation) |
| Youth wing | Área de Juventud de Izquierda Unida |
| LGBT wing | ALEAS |
| Membership(2023) |  18,000[1] |
| Ideology | Communism[2] Socialism[2] Republicanism[3] |
| Political position | Left-wing[6] tofar-left[9] |
| National affiliation | The Left (2009–2014) Plural Left (2011–2015) Plural Left (2014–2019) Popular Unity (2015–2016) Unidas Podemos (2016–2023) Sumar (since 2023) |
| European affiliation | Party of the European Left |
| International affiliation | IMCWP |
| Colours | Red |
| Congress of Deputies | 5 / 350 |
| Spanish Senate | 0 / 266 |
| European Parliament | 0 / 61 |
| Regional Parliaments | 10 / 1,268 |
| Local Government | 1,678 / 67,515 |
| Website | |
| izquierda-unida.es | |
United Left (Spanish:Izquierda Unida[iθˈkjeɾðawˈniða],IU) is a federative political movement inSpain that was first organized as acoalition in 1986, bringing together several left-wing political organizations, grouped primarily around theCommunist Party of Spain.[10]
IU was founded as an electoral coalition of seven parties, but theCommunist Party of Spain (PCE) is the only remaining integrated member of the IU at the national level.[10] Despite that, IU brings together other regional parties, political organizations, and independents.[10] It currently takes the form of a permanent federation of parties.
IU took part in theUnidas Podemos coalition and the corresponding parliamentary group in theCongreso de los Diputados between 2016 and 2023. Since January 2020, it participated for the first time in a nationalcoalition government, with one minister. For the2023 general election, IU took part in theSumar platform.[11]
Following the electoral failure of the PCE in the1982 general election (going from 10% to 4% of the votes), PCE leaders believed that the PCE alone could no longer effectively challenge the electoral hegemony of theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) on the left.[10] With this premise, the PCE began developing closer relations with other left-wing groups, with the vision of forming a broad left coalition.[10] IU slowly improved its results, reaching 9% in 1989 (1,800,000 votes) and nearly 11% in 1996 (2,600,000 votes). The founding organizations were:Communist Party of Spain,Progressive Federation,Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain,PASOC,Carlist Party,Humanist Party,Unitarian Candidacy of Workers, andRepublican Left.
In contrast to the PCE prior to the formation of IU, which pursued a more moderate political course, the new IU adopted a more radical strategy and ideology of confrontation against the PSOE.[12][10] IU generally opposed cooperating with the PSOE, and identified it as a "right-wing party", no different from thePeople's Party (PP).[12][10]
After achieving poor results in the1999 local andEuropean elections, IU decided to adopt a more conciliatory attitude towards the PSOE, and agreed to sign an electoral pact with the PSOE for the upcominggeneral election in 2000.[10] They also adopted a universal policy in favor of cooperating with the PSOE at the local level.[10]
IU currently has around 18,000 members, a decrease from 70,000 in 2012.[1][13]
| Party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Communist Party of Spain (PCE) | ||
| La Aurora Marxist Organization (La Aurora (OM)) | Not a political party. Joined in 1998 | |
| Republican Left (IR) | Left in 2002, rejoined in 2011 | |
| Unitarian Candidacy of Workers (CUT) | Left in 2015, rejoined in 2018 | |
| Former members | ||
| Feminist Party of Spain (PFE) | Joined in October 2015, expelled in February 2020 due to its stances ontransgender rights. | |
| Humanist Party (PH) | April–July 1986 | |
| Carlist Party (PC) | Expelled in 1987 | |
| Progressive Federation (FP) | Left in December 1987, due to being dissolved. | |
| Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) | Left in 1988 | |
| Socialist Action Party (PASOC) | Dissolved in 2001. | |
| Red Current (CR) | Joined in 2002, left in 2004 | |
| Anti-capitalists (IA) | Joined in 1995, left in 2008 | |
| Coalition for Melilla (CpM) | Joined in 2008, left in 2013 | |
| Open Left (IzAb) | Joined in 2012, dissolved in 2018. | |
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Gerardo Iglesias | 1986-1989 |
| Julio Anguita | 1989–1999 |
| Francisco Frutos | 1999–2001 |
| Gaspar Llamazares | 2001–2008 |
| Cayo Lara | 2008–2016 |
| Alberto Garzón | 2016–2023 |
| Antonio Maíllo | 2024–present |
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| Cortes Generales | |||||||||
| Election | Leading candidate | Congress | Senate | Gov. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | # | Seats | +/– | Seats | +/– | |||
| 1986 | Gerardo Iglesias | 935,504 | 4.6 | 5th | 7 / 350 |  3 | 0 / 208 |  0 | Opposition |
| 1989 | Julio Anguita | 1,858,588 | 9.1 | 3rd | 17 / 350 | 10 | 1 / 208 | 1 | Opposition |
| 1993 | 2,253,722 | 9.6 | 3rd | 18 / 350 | 1 | 0 / 208 |  1 | Opposition | |
| 1996 | 2,639,774 | 10.5 | 3rd | 21 / 350 | 3 | 0 / 208 | 0 | Opposition | |
| 2000 | Francisco Frutos | 1,263,043 | 5.4 | 4th | 8 / 350 | 13 | 0 / 208 | 0 | Opposition |
| 2004 | Gaspar Llamazares | 1,284,081 | 5.0 | 6th | 5 / 350 | 3 | 1 / 208 | 1 | Confidence and supply |
| 2008 | 969,946 | 3.8 | 6th | 2 / 350 | 3 | 1 / 208 | 0 | Opposition | |
| 2011 | Cayo Lara | withPlural Left | 7 / 350 | 5 | 0 / 208 | 1 | Opposition | ||
| 2015 | withPopular Unity | 2 / 350 | 5 | 0 / 208 | 0 | New election | |||
| 2016 | Alberto Garzón[a] | withUnidos Podemos | 8 / 350 | 6 | 2 / 208 | 2 | Opposition(2016–18) | ||
| Confidence and supply(2018–19) | |||||||||
| Apr-2019 | withUnidas Podemos | 5 / 350 | 3 | 0 / 208 | 2 | New election | |||
| Nov-2019 | withUnidas Podemos | 5 / 350 | 0 | 0 / 208 | 0 | Coalition (PSOE–UP) | |||
| 2023 | Alberto Garzón[b] | withSumar | 5 / 350 | 0 | 0 / 208 | 0 | Coalition (PSOE–Sumar) | ||
| European Parliament | |||||||
| Election | Leading candidate | Votes | % | # | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Fernando Pérez Royo | 1,011,830 | 5.3 | 4th | 3 / 60 | — | COM |
| 1989 | 961,742 | 6.1 | 4th | 4 / 60 | 1 | COM (EUL) | |
| 1994 | Alonso Puerta | 2,497,671 | 13.4 | 3rd | 9 / 64 | 5 | EUL |
| 1999 | 1,221,566 | 5.8 | 3rd | 4 / 64 | 5 | GUE/NGL | |
| 2004 | Willy Meyer | 643,136 | 4.1 | 4th | 2 / 54 | 2 | |
| 2009 | withThe Left | 2 / 54 | 0 | ||||
| 2014 | withPlural Left | 4 / 54 | 2 | ||||
| 2019 | Sira Rego[c] | withUPCE | 2 / 59 | 2 | |||
| 2024 | Manu Pineda[d] | withSumar | 0 / 61 | 2 | — | ||
European Parliament group:The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL | |||||||||
| Parties |
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| Party presidents | |||||||||
| European Parliament Group presidents | |||||||||
| Other prominent figures | |||||||||
| See also | |||||||||
European political foundation:Transform Europe | |||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
