From Madrid
The Socialists of Catalonia (PSC) won the regional elections Sunday In this autonomous community, which is the second largest population in Spain, But except for surprise, he wouldn’t be able to judge. Although the number of seats won doubled four years ago (from 17 to 33), The Socialists failed to break the national majority, which by adding MPs from various powers could preserve their control over the Generalitat (an independent government).
Willing to break the separatist dynamic that has caused a serious institutional crisis in Spain, HHead of Government and Secretary General of the Socialist Workers Party, A month ago, Pedro Sanchez chose a high-stakes step: he reconstituted his government in the midst of a pandemic and entrusted Health Minister Salvador Illa with the difficult task of reviving a struggling PSC.The federal formation with the Socialist Workers Party, which blocked two elections at the lowest level in history.
The result was good (1st place with 23% of the vote, 33 seats) but not enough. Illa, a Catalan graduate of philosophy who gained her reputation as a dialogue politician during his tenure as minister, managed to place the PSC as the most voted formations, but did not break with the separatist majority. Although practically no possibilities before him, the Socialist candidate announced tonight that he would appear before Parliament to request that he take over the position of President of the Generalitat.
However, it is likely that there will be a national government again. The two dominant powers in that space – Esquerra Republicana (ERC) and JuntsxCat – that have shared government for the past four years, are practically linked. Although the left-wing group managed to change the score four years ago and stood slightly above the conservative force led by former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont of the Belgian city of Waterloo, who fled after the unilateral declaration of independence which ended with nine independence leaders. in prison.
The race to lead the Independence Bloc has been of vital importance ever since If the two powers agree again, the presidency will be aligned with the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, which won 21% and 33 deputies against 20% and 32 seats for the Juntsex Cat.
This agreement between independents is the first choice in the post-election scenario, despite the fact that in recent months, the terrible relations with which both powers ended the legislature were evident. From that way, The ERC candidate, Pere Aragonés, who ended his presidential term after leaving due to the incompetence of his predecessor, Kim Tora (JuntsxCat), is emerging as the future president of the Generalitat. Aragon announced tonight that the new phase will be led by the left-wing independence movement and demanded a pardon from Pedro Sanchez for the politicians convicted of declaring illegal independence.
Both separatist forces add 65 seats to three of the outright majority, Therefore, they should receive support for the candidacy of the People’s Unity – CUP (Caucus and Independence Left) which has practically doubled its results four years ago, from four to nine years. In total, the pro-independence forces, which benefited from a high abstention rate (over 46%), won 51% of the vote and 74 seats in Parliament out of 135.
The other option that the ERC might have is an agreement on the left, which is less likely but not impossible. For this, it would be necessary to have the support of the PSC, with more votes but the same number of seats (33), with eight of En Comú Podem, the Catalan version of Podemos, slacking at less than 7 percent of the vote.
In the space on the right, the detachment of the far-right caused an earthquake. Vox won 11 seats with more than seven percent of the vote and relegated to Ciudadanos to the point that from being the most voted party in 2017 with around 25 percent of the vote, it fell to seventh and lost 30 of 36 parliamentarians. Even worse is the Popular Party, which continued its free fall, with only three MPs remaining, less than the 2017 MPs.
