Carme Forcadell, the Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, will stand as number four on the electoral list from ERC (Catalan Republic Left) for the 21st December Catalan election, Parliament sources say.
"She's doing so because of her peaceful and democratic commitment with the country, its institutions and its people", say the sources, who add that "the speaker plans, however, to maintain her institutional profile during the campaign, and as such she will continue prioritising her task at the head of the Parliament for the rest of her mandate".
ERC's list will be headed by Oriol Junqueras, the party's president, followed by Marta Rovira, their secretary general. Party sources say that Forcadell will come fourth on the list.
Sempre he defensat pacíficament i democràticament el que crec millor per al meu país. Aquest 21D ho continuaré fent des de la candidatura d’@Esquerra_ERC.
— Carme Forcadell (@ForcadellCarme) 15 novembre 2017
Translation: I've always peacefully and democratically defended what I believe to be best for my country. This 21st December I will continue doing so from the candidacy of ERC.
Forcadell was third on the list for JxSí (Together for Yes, a coalition of ERC and PDeCAT - Catalan European Democratic Party) for the last Catalan election on 27th September 2015. The speaker took such a high position after becoming one of the faces of the independence movement as the president of the ANC (Catalan National Assembly). The then-president of Òmnium Cultural, Muriel Casals, was second on the list.
After the election, Forcadell assumed the role of speaker in the Catalan Parliament, a role from which she moved forward with votes linked to the referendum and the later declaration of independence. For allowing these votes, she is now facing charges in Spain's Supreme Court of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds. As a result of these allegations, the speaker last week spent a night in prison before she could post bail of 150,000€ (£134,000, $177,000).