Madrid. Catalonia will hold regional elections this Sunday, to which around five million 750 thousand citizens are called to decide the future for their region for the next four years. Being a parliamentary system, the future government will come from the majority that results in the autonomous Parliament, made up of 135 seats, so the figure to carry out the investiture and to which all parties aspire is 68 deputies.
In the last decade, that is, since 2015, Catalonia has held five regional elections, being immersed in one of the most turbulent political periods in its recent history. In these elections there are two clear favorites, who in turn represent two antagonistic projects: former president Carles Puigdemont, of Junts per Catalunya (JxCat), who has campaigned from Brussels and the south of France, which has not yet been able to set foot on the ground Spanish if he does not want to be detained by the courts of justice and who advocates resuming with more vigor the project towards an independent republic outside the Spanish State.
The second option, which according to the surveys is the most likely, is the one represented by the candidate of the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSE), Salvador Illa, who in the best of scenarios will obtain 43 deputies. That is, 15 fewer than necessary to carry out his investiture, which opens up a range of possibilities for future government pacts or, failing that, investiture agreements.
The big loser in these elections, always according to the polls, will be the current regional president, Pere Aragonés, of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), who will go from being the most voted force in the 2021 elections to a third position, and from having 33 deputies will drop to between 20 and 23.
With this political scenario, in which it also remains to be seen the level of electoral participation, which everything indicates will be one of the lowest in recent history, the future of Catalonia will be debated between an independence government chaired by Puigdemont and supported by the rest of sovereigntist parties, that is, ERC and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP). Or a government led by the socialist Illa and supported by the other predominant leftist formations in the region, that is, ERC and the Comuns Sumar coalition. As long as the final results give the necessary votes.
In these elections, the extreme right in Catalonia will also emerge with force, both the voters of the Spanish option, that is, Vox, and the independentists, who have in the Catalan Alliance the ultra and xenophobic option similar to the one expands throughout Europe. According to surveys, between these two parties they could reach 15 deputies and represent more than 400 thousand voters.
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– 2024-05-13 12:15:30
