Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, cuts off pony tail

Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, cuts off pony tail.

Goodbye, ponytail. He quit the government first, and then politics. Now, Pablo Iglesias of Spain has taken it one step further by cutting his signature long hair.

His hair has characterised the former politics professor who co-founded the radical left-wing Podemos, which entered Spain’s coalition government in January 2020, whether tied back in a ponytail or worn up in a bun.

Iglesias, who had been dubbed “el coletas” — “the guy with the ponytail” — in the Spanish press for years, maintained his look even after being appointed deputy prime minister, wearing his long hair up in a bun or matching it with open-necked shirts at official events.

But, just a week after stepping down as a politician, Iglesias has taken on a completely new look, with photos in the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia showing the bearded 42-year-old in a checked shirt and jeans, his wavy brown hair shorn short. The right-wing La Razon newspaper wondered if it was a center parting or more “on the right,” but it was difficult to tell from the perspective of the images.

Just seven weeks after stepping down as deputy prime minister to run as his party’s candidate, Iglesias resigned from politics on May 4 after Spain’s left-wing parties were beaten in Madrid’s regional elections.

Podemos arose from the anti-austerity “Indignados” protest movement, which occupied public squares across Spain in 2011, and entered politics in 2014.

Since then, Iglesias has become one of Spain’s most well-known politicians. The party was elected to the European Parliament not long after it was established, with ballot papers featuring a photo of his ponytail.

As reported by Expacita