Spain’s left-wing Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz said on Wednesday that she will not stand in the next general election, due in 2027, a move that complicates Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s efforts to assemble a future parliamentary majority dependent on left-wing allies.
In a letter published on social media, Díaz, 54 — a high-profile lawyer and one of Sánchez’s three deputy prime ministers — said she intended to remain in government and continue working to improve people’s lives, but would not run as a candidate in the next election. ALSO READ: Julio Iglesias seeks retraction and damages from Yolanda Díaz over ‘sexual abuser’ remarks.
She did not spell out her reasons. The announcement comes as opinion polls point to growing support for the right-wing People’s Party (PP) and the far-right Vox party.
Díaz founded the multi-party left-wing alliance Sumar in 2023 and was once among the country’s most popular political figures. She is widely credited with sharply increasing the minimum wage and rolling back key aspects of a controversial labour reform, measures she argued would support economic growth. ALSO READ: Yolanda Díaz: ‘I want to be the first female president of my country’.
Over time, however, her relationship with Spain’s business lobby has deteriorated, and she failed to fulfil a pledge to reduce the standard working week. ALSO READ: Spanish government’s bill to shorten work week defeated in parliament.
Her decision to step aside leaves a splintered left without a clear figurehead at a moment when Sumar has been weakened by internal divisions and the anti-establishment Podemos has seen much of its earlier influence ebb away. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez and Yolanda Díaz reach PSOE-Sumar coalition deal.
Vox has recently posted strong results in several regional elections, including in the northern region of Aragón, which many analysts view as a signal of a broader rightward shift in national politics. ALSO READ: PP wins Aragón election, dependent on Vox after far-right surge; PSOE records all-time low.
Earlier this month, a call by Catalan pro-independence MP Gabriel Rufián of the Esquerra Republicana (ERC) party and Sumar member Emilio Delgado to form a new, unified front of left-wing forces — including pro-independence parties — was met with scepticism across much of the left, underscoring the challenges facing the bloc ahead of the next election.
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Logró 25 acuerdos con los sindicatos, pero fracasó en la ley para reducir la jornada. Los seis años de Yolanda Díaz al frente del Ministerio de Trabajo: del desplome de la temporalidad a las subidas del salario mínimo https://t.co/FTPdgRA1el
— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) February 25, 2026
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