CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy) has said it will not take part in any joint candidacy with all the pro-independence parties for the election on 21st December, with just hours to go until the deadline to register coalitions. That said, they don't reject entirely the option of standing with other parties in other forms. If the CUP's membership supports standing on 21st December, they will be proposed three options: to stand in some form like the current CUP-CC, to set up a political agreement for a broader left-wing front, or to build a list of members of the public, leaving parties out of it.
"It's not in this proposal for us for there to be parties that propose frontline people like [president] Puigdemont", explained CUP deputy Mireia Vehí this Tuesday. In any case, CUP believe that the elections "lacks legitimacy" and that it should be used to "construct the republic". They've sent a draft proposal to their members, opening a two day period for amendments as the party makes its decisions in assembly via deliberative democracy.
The party has called an assembly for this Sunday where the National Secretariat will go over the current political situation, explain the events that have led them to the present moment and propose the four options for the election to their supporters without stating a preference for any of them.
The first option is to not stand in the election in any form. The second is to not stand as a party, but to give support to a "civil candidacy". "It would be a public list, without politicians, and there is time until 17th November to register it", say party sources who specify it would be branded as something other than CUP. Catalan elections are run via a version of proportional representation. Parties can propose a list of candidates for each of the provinces, and then are awarded a number of seats based on their proportion of the vote in that province, which go to the first
Another option would be the creation of a front with Catalan left-wing parties which would also be registered under a different name to the individual parties that make it up. Thanks to technicalities of the system, this would be something akin to a new party, rather than a coalition, so the option does not close with the deadline at 11:59pm this evening.
The same party sources explain that this list could include the instrumental party, Procés Constituent (Constituent Process) announced by the former secretary general of Podem (We Can), Albano-Dante Fachin, other small left-wing parties and ERC. "Although in the latest meetings it seems that ERC isn't willing to join it," they said.
Three months and another election
The CUP's idea is to demonstrate that the election is not legitimate and to propose that the winning party commits to remaining in government for three months before calling another election "which would be legitimate because it would be called from Catalonia". This in contrast with the 21st December election called by the central government after the application of article 155 of the Constitution.
The fourth and final option they propose is to stand alone. These are the four options to be discussed in Sunday's meeting, which does not yet have an announced venue.
Traditionally, in CUP general assemblies, after proposals have been amended as necessary, they proceed to vote on all the options on the table. The one with least votes is eliminated, then there is a second round of voting on the remaining choices after which, again, the least popular is removed. This process continues until only two remain for a final round of voting to choose the party's position.