United Left (Spain) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids 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
Ideology	Communism Socialism Republicanism
Political position	Left-wing to far-left
National affiliation	The Left (2009–2014) Plural Left (2011) (2011–2015) Plural Left (2014) (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
izquierdaunida.org

United Left (Spanish: Izquierda Unida [iθˈkjeɾðawˈniða], IU) is a federative political movement in Spain that was first organized as a coalition in 1986, bringing together several left-wing political organizations, most notably the Communist Party of Spain.

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. It currently takes the form of a permanent federation of parties.

Congress seats from 1977 (as PCE) to 2011

IU took part of the Unidas Podemos coalition and the corresponding parliamentary group in the Congreso de los Diputados between 2016 and 2023. Since January 2020, it participated for the first time in a national coalition government, with one minister. For the 2023 general election, IU took part of the Sumar platform.

History

United Left logo from 1986. It was composed of the logos of the parties that signed the coalition. It would not be until 1988 that a specific logo for IU would be designed.

Julio Anguita, general coordinator of United Left from 1989 to 1999.

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).

After achieving poor results in the 1999 local and European 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.

IU currently has around 70,000 members.

Composition

Federations of IU

• Andalusia: Izquierda Unida Los Verdes - Convocatoría por Andalucía (United Left/The Greens - Assembly for Andalusia)
• Aragon: Izquierda Unida Aragón (United Left of Aragon)
• Asturias: Izquierda Xunida de Asturies (United Left of Asturias)
• Balearic Islands: Esquerra Unida de les Illes Balears (United Left of the Balearic Islands)
• Canary Islands: Izquierda Unida Canaria (Canarian United Left)
• Cantabria: Izquierda Unida de Cantabria (Cantabrian United Left)
• Castilla-La Mancha: Izquierda Unida de Castilla-La Mancha (United Left of Castilla-La Mancha)
• Catalonia: Esquerra Unida Catalunya (United Left Catalonia, Founded in July 2019; suspended in June 2019 Esquerra Unida i Alternativa)
• Castilla y León: Izquierda Unida de Castilla y León (United Left of Castile and León)
• Ceuta: Izquierda Unida de Ceuta (United Left of Ceuta)
• Euskadi: Izquierda Unida - Los Verdes: Ezker Anitza (United Left - The Greens: Plural Left)
• Extremadura: Izquierda Unida Extremadura (United Left Extremadura)
• Galicia: Esquerda Unida (United Left of Galicia)
• La Rioja: Izquierda Unida La Rioja (United Left-La Rioja)
• Madrid: Izquierda Unida-Madrid (United Left-Madrid). Izquierda Unida de la Comunidad de Madrid (United Left of the Community of Madrid) was expelled in 2015. The new federation, IU-M, was created in 2016.
• Melilla: Izquierda Unida - Federación de Melilla (United Left - Melilla Federation)
• Murcia: Izquierda Unida-Verdes de la Región de Murcia (United Left - Greens of the Region of Murcia)
• Navarra: Izquierda Unida de Navarra - Nafarroako Ezker Batua (United Left of Navarra)
• Valencian Community: Esquerra Unida del País Valencià (United Left of the Valencian Country)

Leaders

Electoral performance

Cortes Generales

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	3rd	8 / 350	13	0 / 208	0	Opposition
2004	Gaspar Llamazares	1,284,081	5.0	3rd	5 / 350	3	1 / 208	1	Confidence and supply
2008		969,946	3.8	3rd	2 / 350	3	1 / 208	0	Opposition
2011	Cayo Lara	with Plural Left			7 / 350	5	0 / 208	1	Opposition
2015	Alberto Garzón	with Popular Unity			2 / 350	5	0 / 208	0	New election
2016		with Unidos Podemos			8 / 350	6	2 / 208	2	Opposition (2016–18)
									Confidence and supply (2018–19)
Apr-2019		with Unidas Podemos			5 / 350	3	0 / 208	2	New election
Nov-2019		with Unidas Podemos			5 / 350	0	0 / 208	0	Coalition (PSOE–UP)
2023		with Sumar			5 / 350	0	0 / 208	0	Coalition (PSOE–Sumar)

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election	Leading candidate	Votes	%	#	Seats	+/–
1987	Fernando Pérez Royo	1,011,830	5.3	4th	3 / 60	—
1989		961,742	6.1	4th	4 / 60	1
1994	Alonso Puerta	2,497,671	13.4	3rd	9 / 64	5
1999		1,221,566	5.8	3rd	4 / 64	5
2004	Willy Meyer	643,136	4.1	4th	2 / 54	2
2009		with The Left			2 / 54	0
2014		with Plural Left			4 / 54	2
2019	Sira Rego	with UPCE			2 / 54	2
2024	Manu Pineda	with Sumar			0 / 61	2

See also

In Spanish: Izquierda Unida (España) para niños