United Left
Izquierda Unida |
|
---|---|
General Coordinator | Alberto Garzón |
Founded | April 1986 |
Youth wing | Área de Juventud de Izquierda Unida |
LGBT wing | ALEAS |
Membership (2016) | 72,041 |
Ideology |
Communism Eurocommunism Republicanism Environmentalism Federalism |
Political position | Left-wing |
National affiliation | Unidos Podemos |
European affiliation | Party of the European Left |
European Parliament group | European United Left–Nordic Green Left |
Colours |
Dark red Green |
Congress of Deputies |
8 / 350
5 elected inside Unidos Podemos, 2 inside En Comú Podem and 1 inside En Marea.
|
Spanish Senate |
2 / 266
1 elected inside Unidos Podemos and 1 elected inside En Marea.
|
European Parliament |
4 / 54
|
Regional Parliaments |
20 / 1,268
|
Local Government (2015) |
2,022 / 67,515
(Candidates gained in coalitions or unitary lists not included) |
Website | |
www.izquierda-unida.es | |
United Left (Spanish: Izquierda Unida [iθˈkjerða uˈniða], IU) is a political coalition that was organized in 1986, bringing together several left-wing political organizations.
IU was founded as an electoral coalition of seven parties, but the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) is the only remaining integrated member of the IU at the national level. Despite that, IU brings together other regional parties, political organizations, and independents.
Following the electoral failure of the PCE in the 1982 (from 10% to 4%), PCE leaders believed that the PCE alone could no longer effectively challenge the electoral hegemony of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) on the left. With this premise, the PCE began developing closer relations with other left-wing groups, with the vision of forming a broad left coalition. 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, and Republican 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. IU generally opposed cooperating with the PSOE, and identified it as a "right-wing party", no different from the People's Party (PP).