MADRID — Spain’s hard-left Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz announced Wednesday she will skip the next parliamentary election, projected for 2027, dealing a setback to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s fragile coalition reliant on leftist backing for a majority.
In a social media letter, the 54-year-old stylish lawyer, who serves as one of Sanchez’s three deputies—pledged to keep advancing citizens’ welfare from her cabinet post but ruled out a candidacy. She offered no detailed explanation amid polls showing gains for the conservative People’s Party and far-right Vox.
Diaz, who launched the multi-party Sumar coalition in 2023 and once ranked among Spain’s top politicians, earned praise for hiking the minimum wage and tweaking a detested labour reform to spur growth. Yet her rapport with business groups has frayed, and she fell short on pledging a shorter workweek.
Her step-back leaves a divided left leaderless, with Sumar reeling from infighting and once-mighty anti-establishment Podemos fading fast. Vox notched wins in recent regional polls, notably in bellwether Aragon, signaling a national rightward drift.
Earlier this month, a pitch by ERC lawmaker Gabriel Rufian and Sumar’s Emilio Delgado for a broad left alliance—including Catalan separatists, met tepid reception across the spectrum.