With more than 98% of the votes already counted in the regional elections in Catalonia, the Catalan Socialists (PSC) hold the victory in number of votes (something they have not achieved for 22 years), but with the same 33 representatives in the Catalan parliament as the ERC (which also adds up to 33 seats). A victory (which could be Pirro’s) for Salvador Illa, since the majority (and absolute, this time) remains of the independenceists: to the 33 deputies of the ERC are added 32 of Junts per Catalunya and 9 of CUP ( which wins 5 compared to 2017), for a total of 74 seats. The absolute majority in Catalonia is obtained with 68 deputies.
VOX (extreme right) enters the Catalan parliament for the first time, and in force, with 11 deputies, while Vamos catalão has eight and Ciudadanos (C’s) has a monumental drop (from winner in 2017, with 36 deputies, to no maximum six in these elections).
Post-election negotiations will not be easy, but independenceists have an open path to a comfortable majority in the Palace of Parliament. Even so, ERC and JxCat will have to know how to manage the always unpredictable CUP (anti-system, anti-Europe and EU formation, anti-capitalism and more focused on radical street actions). As for the socialists, they gain significant momentum (counting on early elections, a scenario that has been repeated several times in the past 4 years), benefiting from an abyssal fall of Ciutadans (moderate center-right, constitutionalist) and the Catalan PP (which only elected 3 deputies) ). But the biggest surprise of the night (much at the expense of PP and C’s) is Vox, a pro-Spanish party with origins in Andalusia, which ends up bursting into the Catalan parliament, and soon with 11 seats (ie, as the fourth political force).
Vox candidate Ignacio Garriga stressed – in his speech at the end of the election night – that, finally, “all Catalans are now represented in the Parliament“. But the national president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, preferred to read more widely the result of the training in Catalonia. Referring to the result as “a historic achievement”, Abascal said that Vox is the “first national force in Catalonia”.
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The constitutionalists did not even manage to prevent an unprecedented feat by the independenceists, who won more than 50% of the popular vote, a goal that they had never achieved and that may lead them to dream even more of new referendums for self-determination or, worse, unilateral declarations of independence.
The downfall of Ciutadans (C’s) led the party’s leader, Inés Arrimadas, to call an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee for Monday.
In the first reactions, the Catalan parties lamented the weak participation, but with different tones. ERC and Junts per Catalunya assured that “the victory of the independence parties” is guaranteed, while the C´s admitted the electoral debacle. The Catalan socialists, who rose after a few years of less brilliance, responded with enthusiasm: “We are aware that we have the confidence of many people. Today Catalonia opens a new stage and we cannot miss the opportunity. The change is here to stay, ”said Eva Granados, referring to the PSC’s victory in a popular vote.
The case is no wonder: the Socialist Party of Catalonia once again gained the demarcation of Barcelona (the most important in the autonomous region), something that had not happened for 18 years (ahead of ERC and JxCat). And, of course, it was the most voted party.
Already with more than 95% of the votes cast, the socialist candidate for president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa (ex-Minister of Health of Spain), was not happy. “My victory has a very clear meaning: turning the page. In addition, I already tell you that I will introduce myself to the investiture ”. In Catalonia (as in most of the autonomous regions), the candidate of the winning party has to present itself to the vote in the regional parliament, being able to be elected to the first by absolute majority or in the following ones (spaced in 48 hours) by simple majority.
The electoral scenario does not bode well for him. Oriol Junqueras, a historic leader of the Esquerra Republicana Catalana (one of the independence activists who was arrested for declaring the region’s independence) preferred to give victory to his own party. “For the first time in 80 years, ERC will again have the presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya”. The ERC candidate, Pere Aragonés, was clear on the purpose of the training: “The result of the elections is unappealable. There will be a majority of independent deputies in the Parliament , and today a new stage has to start ”. He concluded: “It is time to resolve the conflict. We must vote in a referendum for self-determination ”.
Carles Puigdemont, the man who declared the region’s independence and then fled to Brussels, praised the fact that the independenceists obtained more than 50% of the popular vote: “The people’s message is persistent. Only independence can build a government alternative ”.
From Madrid, the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), exulted with the results of the socialists in Catalonia. “Socialism won the elections. Fantastic news to make change possible ”, wrote the Head of Government on Twitter.
Socialism has won the # Elections14F. Fantastic news to make possible the change and the reunion for which you have worked so hard @socialistes_cat.
Thanks, @salvadorilla, for giving us back the illusion of achieving a better future for Catalonia and for Spain. #PSC /❤– Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) February 14, 2021
The first projections of the night, released by TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio (and carried out by Gad3), they gave the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), an independent force, as the winner with a number of deputies between 36 and 38. The same analysis indicated that the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) would have 34 to 36 deputies, even considering that it would be the most voted formation (the Catalan electoral method and the distribution by regions allows a less voted formation to obtain more seats).
The third position would be Junts per Catalunya, which would have between 30 and 33 seats. Five to six other parties managed to pass the 3% of votes that would guarantee them parliamentary representation: Catalunya en Comú, the Catalan extension of Pode, with 6 to 7 deputies. The CUP (extreme left anti-system, anti-capital and anti-European) with seven. VOX (extreme right) would enter the Catalan parliament for the first time and then with six representatives. Ciudadanos, which in the 2017 elections ranked first with 36 seats, has a monumental drop, staying for 6 or 7 seats. The Catalan PP is even worse, with 4 or 5 deputies. Finally, PdeCat can reach two seats, according to the same survey.
Another poll at the polls, published on Barcelona television, Betevé, and the newspaper El Periódico (prepared by the Catalan market research institute Gesop) gave another result: a three-way tie between PSC, ERC and Junts per Catalunya, with intervals of between 31 and 33 deputies each. Soon after, another surprise: VOX, with 10 or 11 deputies. The fifth force would be En Comú Pode, with 8 or 9. The CUP would obtain between 7 and 8 deputies and Ciutadans 6 or 7 deputies (as indicated by the Gad3 survey). The Catalan PP would have the same seats as the Ciutadans. The PDeCAT, on the other hand, ranges from zero to two regional deputies.
The day went on with relative tranquility – to mark a modest demonstration in which some activists protested against the electoral rise of Vox -, despite the long waiting lines, a reality well known to the Portuguese who participated in Marcelo Rebelo’s Sousa as President of the Republic. Most unusual, however, was the decision taken on the positive Covid-19 citizens’ vote.
Tight hygiene and safety measures marked this Catalan electoral act. GettyImages
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One of the guiding principles of this electoral act was the distribution of voters by hourly periods during the day, being divided into three time blocks: from 9 am to 12 pm (only for risk groups), from 12 pm to 7 pm (general population), and from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm (positive citizens and risky contacts) – theThe newspaper he cited the Departament de Salut – a kind of Catalan Directorate-General for Health – that estimated that in this last slice of voters there should be about 14 to 80 thousand people.
The polls close at 8 pm local time, 7 pm in Portugal, and around that time it began to be noticed that the values of the independence parties continued in force among the political preferences of Catalonia – the final result, known almost at 1 am, time from Spain (midnight in Portugal), proved it.
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