Lilith Verstrynge, Podemos Organization Secretary and deputy in Congress, announced this Friday that she is leaving her organic positions and her minutes in Congress. The leader was the ‘number three’ of the party since the 2021 Citizen Assembly, which elected Ione Belarra as general secretary of the party, after the departure of Pablo Iglesias. She announced her decision by surprise, through a message on social networks in which she thanked the militancy for its trust.
Lilith Verstrynge, the third point of the women’s trident that Podemos will lead along with Belarra and Montero
“Farewells are difficult and sad. I leave my political responsibilities and also the record of deputy. A thousand thanks to the activism of Podemos and to the people who have trusted me these years,” she announced. Shortly after, both Belarra and the party’s political secretary, Irene Montero, thanked her in separate messages for her work. “Now the fundamental thing is that you take care of yourself and that you are well. We can always be your home. Thank you for so much work in such difficult conditions. A huge hug,” wrote the general secretary of the party. “The priority now is you. We love you and we will continue walking together,” Montero also wrote.
The leader’s resignation, for personal reasons, occurs after an extremely intense year for the party. Verstrynge was in charge of negotiating the coalitions for 28M with the different territories and, weeks later, of the state coalition with Sumar. Party sources have recalled this work. “We can thank Lilith Verstrynge for her great work in the Organization Secretariat. In recent months, Verstrynge has been at the forefront of negotiations with Sumar, a very demanding task that she has carried out under very difficult conditions. We can convey her best wishes to you. “This will always be her house,” those same sources report.
Goodbyes are difficult and sad. I leave my political responsibilities and also the record of deputy.
A thousand thanks to the Podemos militancy and to the people who have trusted me these years.
— Lilith Verstrynge (@LilithVerstryng) January 26, 2024
Verstrynge’s loss is extremely sensitive for the party. He loses the person in charge of articulating the internal and territorial structure of the party precisely at a time when the majority of regional leaderships have opened primary processes for their renewal, once the party’s new roadmap has been established in November. Podemos has always suffered from a weakness in establishing itself in the different territories and the position held by the leader has changed on numerous occasions in the decade of its history. Before her were Sergio Pascual, Pablo Echenique and Alberto Rodríguez.
His departure also means damage in Congress for the party, which will lose a seat in favor of Sumar. As was the case on the Barcelona lists, the following positions in that constituency – as agreed for the 23J coalition – are for members of Catalunya en Comú. The next on the list is Candela López, former mayor of Castelldefels, from ICV and current coordinator of the commons. The party will be left with four seats in the Mixed Group and Yolanda Díaz’s coalition will now have 27 deputies.
Before becoming Organization Secretary, Verstrynge had held numerous positions within the party. She was an advisor on Idoia Villanueva’s team in the European Parliament in 2019. A few months later she began working in the Ecological Transition Area of Podemos. And in January 2020 she received a call from Pablo Iglesias, who signed her for her team in the Second Vice Presidency. She had interviewed him for her magazine. In May of that year he was already part of the list of Churches to the Citizen Council, where he assumed responsibility for the area of Ecological Transition, but without becoming part of the executive.
For a year and three months he worked hand in hand with the Secretary of Speech and Political Analysis of Podemos, Manu Levín, and with the Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda, Ione Belarra, political officials responsible for the coordination between the Government and Parliament. In 2021, after the departure of Pablo Iglesias from the party, Verstrynge was part of the list that Belarra set up to run for the party’s general secretary, a list that would win the party’s IV Citizen Assembly. It was then that he became the party’s ‘number three’ in the new executive, a position that he would combine months later with the Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda in the ministry headed by Belarra.