Podemos, the other indomitable partner that supported Pedro Sánchez's investiture, rules out holding a Junts and submitting its own political position regarding the PSOE and Sumar government to a consultation among its own people. This is not because it is unclear how best to capitalize on its four votes in Congress, but because it already made its own strategic shift when it abandoned Yolanda Díaz and Ione Belarra's party took on the role of rebel ally.

From that position, closer to being an opposition than a partner, Podemos believes it could gain influence and notoriety. And thus, for the first time, stand out in a situation as complex as conducting politics, from the Mixed Group. Until now, its four deputies were indispensable for the absolute majorities required by the organic laws, but above all, they are decisive in defeating initiatives if they vote the same as the PP, Vox, and UPN. Because with the purple party, they reach 175 seats and form a blocking majority to block initiatives.

The power of his dissenting vote is what truly gave him power in Congress. As demonstrated when, thanks to it, he derailed the PSOE and Junts migration pact to transfer powers to Catalonia. Or when he overturned a decree issued by Díaz and forced her to bring forward a revised text.

What happens now if Junts rejects the government en masse? Podemos would be the hardest hit, after the PSOE and Sumar, because it would completely lose the power to defeat initiatives with the right and, therefore, demand compensation from Sánchez in exchange for not doing so.

This negotiating power has been leveraged in the past to secure the validation of royal decrees, the so-called Bolaños Law, or the Sustainable Mobility Law. This advantage, a priori, is lost unless the government can redirect its relationship with Junts.

Of course, Podemos's means of pressure is to increase the"no" bloc. For Sánchez, losing the vote by 178 votes due to Junts' anger isn't the same as going down to 182"no" votes, which gives more force to the majority he faces and reinforces the government's parliamentary instability. Because it would be not one, but two indispensable allies of the investiture who would have distanced themselves from him.

Podemos maintains its plan: negotiate one way or another and demand left-wing policies in order to vote in favor. Now, in the new scenario, with the free rein afforded by not being decisive, a more orthodox and belligerent Podemos is expected. It loses votes but gains rhetoric and narrative to be even tougher in its clash with the PSOE and in its stifling of Sumar, thus differentiating itself and establishing its own profile in a time marked by the start of the election cycle.