Spain's Podemos picks Iglesias for election, but turnout tiny
By John Stonestreet and Inmaculada Sanz MADRID (Reuters) - Podemos's Pablo Iglesias won a landslide vote on Friday to spearhead the Spanish anti-establishment party's general election campaign, but a tiny turnout pointed to growing discontent over his leadership. Iglesias is the dominant figure in a party that, since he co-founded it in early 2014, has attracted a significant minority of voters with a brand of community activism-based leftist politics that has challenged Spain's decades-old two-party system. In Friday's primary election, nearly 94 percent voted for the list of 65 parliamentary candidates drafted by Iglesias, putting him on course to run for prime minister. That proportion is likely to fuel further criticism within Podemos that it is at risk of becoming too centralised under his leadership, while the turnout of just 15 percent of those party supporters who registered to vote was the lowest in any ballot organised by the party. Of 379,000 who requested a ballot, fewer than 60,000 actually voted. RATINGS FALL Podemos defended the participation rate. "Given it's summer and we had a very strong candidacy for the head of government... we think it's a good result," Pablo Echenique, who heads the party's electoral committee, told a news conference in Madrid. But Iglesias' formerly steady touch at the helm has shown signs of wavering in recent weeks. In early July he rejected overtures from other leftist forces to agree a joint platform for the general election, which is expected to take place before year-end. That divided opinion within Podemos and led to a review, with the party saying last week it would now consult its supporters over the issue. Others, notably the party's leader in Andalucia, Teresa Rodriguez, criticised Iglesias for organising Friday's primary election without taking account of regional preferences. With the party under the microscope over its close links to Greece's governing Syriza - sharply divided over whether to back the country's new bailout - Podemos' standing among voters has also taken a hit. Until recently it was keeping pace with the mainstream centre-right governing People's Party and the opposition Socialists, but in a survey by pollster GAD3 published on Sunday Podemos fell back to a distant third. In Friday's electronic vote, supporters were asked to choose between Iglesias' list and others drafted by other Podemos officials, while also being able to choose individual candidates from difference lists. Podemos plans to present its campaign programme in mid-October following further consultations with supporters. (Editing by Julien Toyer and Ralph Boulton)
