From his first declaration following Podemos’s surprise result in the May 2014 European Parliament elections, Pablo Iglesias has been unequivocal: the days of celebrating hopeful scores (in the single digits) for the radical left were gone; the only way to be true to the break represented by the 15-M movement that shook Spain in 2011 would be to translate its social majority into an electoral one.

Podemos wants to be the instrument for the passage of the “new common sense” thrown up by the 15-M into the corridors of state power, a tool for the plebeian democratization of Spanish politics. On the eve of the December 20 (or “20-D”) elections, how should we evaluate the party’s efforts toward that end?

Perhaps uniquely among contemporary parties, and no doubt due to the academic backgrounds of many of its leading figures, Podemos’s rise has been accompanied by a kind of running commentary, often internally produced, in which the party’s objectives and strategies are incessantly publicized and its origin story meticulously and sometimes mythically retold.