Killing the father: Has Sumar replaced Podemos in Spanish politics?

Podemos has been most successful challenger party emerging in Spanish politics since the return of democracy in the 1970s (Rodríguez Teruel, et. alt. 2016). However, the party’s fast evolution from protest to government has led to substantial organisational and ideological challenges in its current institutionalisation face (Barberà and Barrio, 2018). By 2021, Podemos party leader’s resignation led to a dual authority strategy dividing the roles of the Unidas Podemos coalition top national candidate and the leadership of the party organisation. Over time, an emerging conflict between both authorities (and the party founder) led to an ever-increasing divide that has led to a major split after the 2023 General Elections. The paper will describe the problems connected to the attempt of mutating Podemos into a new electoral coalition, Sumar, led by the new top national candidate. It will also point out the on-going transformation of the Sumar coalition into a new political (organisational) alliance that has not the involvement of Podemos. The paper will also explore to what extent the failed merging of Podemos into Sumar has affected the party ideological positions through a comparison of the 2019 and the 2023 party manifestos. Finally, analyzing official survey data form the 2019 and the 2023 the paper will test to what extent the factors shaping the political support for both candidatures has changed over time.