United Left ( es, Izquierda Unida , IU) is a federative political movement in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

that was first organized as a coalition in 1986, bringing together several left-wing political organizations, most notably the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving as ...

. IU was founded as an electoral coalition of seven parties, but the

(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. It currently takes the form of a permanent federation of parties. IU is currently part of the

Unidas Podemos Unidas Podemos (), formerly called Unidos Podemos () and also known in English as United We Can, is a democratic socialist electoral alliance formed by Podemos, United Left, and other left-wing to far-left parties in May to contest the 2016 Sp ...

coalition and the corresponding parliamentary group in the

Congreso de los Diputados The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

. Since January 2020, it participates for the first time in a national coalition government, with one minister.

History

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 The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(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:

, Progressive Federation,

Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de los Pueblos de España) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Spain. PCPE was founded out of the unification of several Marxist-Leninist factions. The youth organization is ...

, PASOC,

Carlist Party The Carlist Party ( es, Partido Carlista, ca, Partit Carlí, eu, Karlista Alderdia, gl, Partido Carlista, ast, Partíu Carlista; PC) is a Spanish political party that considers itself as a successor to the historical tradition of Carlism. ...

Humanist Party The Humanist International (also known as the International Humanist Party) is a consortium of political parties adhering to universal humanism (also known as Siloism, after the nickname of the movement's founder), founded in 1989 by over 40 na ...

, 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.Topaloff, L (2012) Political Parties and Euroscepticism, pp192-193 IU generally opposed cooperating with the PSOE, and identified it as a "right-wing party", no different from the People's Party (PP). After achieving poor results in the 1999 local and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

elections, IU decided to adopt a more conciliatory attitude towards the PSOE, and agreed to sign an electoral pact with the PSOE for the upcoming general election in 2000. They also adopted a universal policy in favor of cooperating with the PSOE at local level. Following the election of

Cayo Lara Cayo Lara Moya (born 1952) is a Spanish politician. He was the leader of United Left (IU) from December 2008 to July 2016. He is also a member of the leadership of the Communist Party of Spain. Early years and regional leadership Born at Argama ...

as leader in 2008, however, the party has shifted back towards a more confrontational attitude towards the PSOE. IU currently has around 70,000 members.

Member parties

Federations of IU

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

: '' Izquierda Unida Los Verdes - Convocatoría por Andalucía'' (United Left/The Greens - Assembly for Andalusia) *

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

: '' Izquierda Unida Aragón'' (United Left of Aragon) *

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

: '' Izquierda Xunida de Asturies'' (United Left of Asturias) * Balearic Islands: '' Esquerra Unida de les Illes Balears'' (United Left of the Balearic Islands) *

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

: '' Izquierda Unida Canaria'' (Canarian United Left) *

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

: '' Izquierda Unida de Cantabria'' (Cantabrian United Left) * Castilla-La Mancha: '' Izquierda Unida de Castilla-La Mancha'' (United Left of Castilla-La Mancha) *

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

: '' Esquerra Unida Catalunya'' (United Left Catalonia, Founded in July 2019; suspended in June 2019 ''

Esquerra Unida i Alternativa United and Alternative Left ( ca, Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, EUiA) is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. EUiA has 4000 members, and it is the Catalan correspondent of the Spain-wide United Left (IU). It was formed in 1998 as a schism ...

'') *

Castilla y León Castile, Castille or Castilla may refer to: Places Spain *Castile (historical region), a vaguely defined historical region of Spain covering most of Castile and León, all of the Community of Madrid and most of Castilla–La Mancha *Kingdom of ...

: '' Izquierda Unida de Castilla y León'' (United Left of Castile and León) *

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

: ''Izquierda Unida de Ceuta'' (United Left of Ceuta) *

Euskadi The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an Autonomous communities of Spain, a ...

: '' Izquierda Unida - Los Verdes: Ezker Anitza'' (United Left - The Greens: Plural Left) *

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

: '' Izquierda Unida Extremadura'' (United Left Extremadura) * Galicia: ''

Esquerda Unida Esquerda Unida, EU () is the Galician federation of the Spanish left-wing political and social movement United Left. Yolanda Díaz, Minister of Labour and Social Economy, is the current General Coordinator. The PCG (Galician federation of PCE) ...

'' (United Left of Galicia) *

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...

: '' Izquierda Unida La Rioja'' (United Left-La Rioja) *

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

: '' Izquierda Unida-Madrid'' (United Left-Madrid). ''Izquierda Unida de la Comunidad de Madrid'' (

United Left of the Community of Madrid United Left of the Community of Madrid ( es, Izquierda Unida Comunidad de Madrid, IU–CM or IUCM) was the regional branch in the Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous co ...

) was expelled in 2015. The new federation, IU-M, was created in 2016.La militancia de IU Madrid elige a Mauricio Valiente y Chus Alonso al frente de la nueva formación.
Público, 03/05/2016. *

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

: ''Izquierda Unida - Federación de Melilla'' (United Left - Melilla Federation) *

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

: '' Izquierda Unida-Verdes de la Región de Murcia'' (United Left - Greens of the Region of Murcia) *

Navarra Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

: '' Izquierda Unida de Navarra - Nafarroako Ezker Batua'' (United Left of Navarra) *

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

: '' Esquerra Unida del País Valencià'' (United Left of the Valencian Country)

Leaders

Electoral performance

Cortes Generales

European Parliament

References

External links

Official websiteIzquierda Unida Los Verdes - Convocatoría por AndalucíaIzquierda Unida AragónIzquierda Xunida d'AsturiesIzquierda Unida de CantabriaIzquierda Unida - Izquierda de Castilla-La ManchaEsquerda Unida-Izquierda UnidaEsquerra Unida de les Illes BalearsIzquierda Unida - La RiojaIzquierda Unida de la Comunidad de MadridIzquierda Unida de Navarra - Nafarroako Ezker BatuaEsquerra Unida del País Valencià
{{Authority control International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Unidas Podemos Communist parties in Spain