ERC (Catalan Republican Left) deputy in the Catalan Congress, Gabriel Rufián, has said in a tweet that the objective of the 21st December election is the "restoration of the institutions, the government and the legitimate president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont". ERC has since 2015 been in a governing coalition with Puigdemont's PDeCAT (Catalan European Democratic Party).
Nuestra lucha este 21D es por la restitución de las instituciones, gobierno y Presidente legítimo de Catalunya, Carles Puigdemont.
— Gabriel Rufián (@gabrielrufian) 13 novembre 2017
Rufián explicitly mentions Puigdemont, even though the pro-independence parties have decided to stand separately in the upcoming election. ERC's electoral list will be headed by the party's leader, Oriol Junqueras, vice-president of Catalonia, whilst Puigdemont will lead a candidacy under the name Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) in which PDeCAT will remain in the background, and which will include independents from across the political spectrum.
The president had argued from Brussels for the option of a joint list of pro-independence parties, and expressed his willingness to lead such a list. Nonetheless, given the impossibility of coming to an agreement on the proposal, he has today made it clear that he will instead lead a cross-spectrum candidacy.