Carolina Bescansa, Pablo Iglesias, Ada Colau at Caja Magica, Madrid. December 13, 2015. Demotix/Jorge Gonzalez. All rigths reserved.Arguably the flagship policy of Podemos in this election campaign is not the proposal for a guaranteed basic income of 600 euros, nor is it the progressive raising of the minimum wage to 800 euros, but the introduction of a recall referendum, in the case of a breaching of the electoral contract.
Initially proposed by an anonymous user on the Podemos Reddit forum (Plaza Podemos), during the open consultation on the party’s programme, this policy attracted enormous support and as often been referred to by Pablo Iglesias during TV debates, as evidence of the party’s commitment to voters. The text of the proposal states that, “electoral programmes have to be understood as contracts with citizens. Therefore Podemos will set minimum contractual commitments, which, if breached, will raise a call for new elections.”
The recall (revocatorios) – which would require the support of 158 MPs and 15% of the electorate – is just the most visible of wide-ranging proposals for political reform that constitute a central plank of Podemos’ programme in these general elections. They revolve around a project of radical overhaul of State institutions and their “opening up” in the service of the citizenry, to reverse the current skepticism of the electorate towards politicians.
