The Catalan president-in-exile and MEP, Carles Puigdemont, has affirmed this Thursday that "he will probably announce next week" if he will seek the Catalan presidential candidacy for Together for Catalonia (Junts) in the May 12th snap election. In a media conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg centred mostly on the amnesty law, Puigdemont made it clear that he would be "very excited" to be present in the investiture debate after the early election called by president Pere Aragonès. The MEP said that it seems "reasonable" to him to be able to attend the investiture debate, which would be a period of time after the May 12th election day - weeks or even months later, depending on the result - because he considers that the calendar is "compatible" with that of the amnesty. However, the former president avoided specifying this morning whether he will be a candidate for the elections. "The day I make a decision I will communicate it," said the pro-independence leader.
Indeed, with Together for Catalonia activating all its electoral machinery in preparation for the snap election, Puigdemont will need to announce his decision on the candidacy next week. The executive of the pro-independence party agreed this Thursday to hold primaries on Saturday March 23rd to choose the list leaders in each of the four Catalan demarcations, as ElNacional.cat can report. In order to take part in this internal process, in which party members will be able to choose the number 1 on the party list for each province, Puigdemont will have to confirm his candidacy no later than Thursday 21st. Currently, the regulations on the internal party process are open to a period of amendments from the party's national leadership and will be closed definitively next week (March 19th). Those who seek to head the lists for the four Catalan electorates - Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona and Lleida - must do so between Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st. Two days later, the primaries will be held.
Amnesty should "enable politics to be conducted with equality"
Speaking in Strasburg on the day that the Spanish lower house has approved the law for an amnesty on independence process prosecutions, Puigdemont backed his party's support for the text of the amnesty bill because it "meets expectations" and "objectives". However, he warned that the legal measure is not "an end point to anything" but the "condition" the enables politics to be conducted "in terms of a certain equality", in order that "one of the parties does not face the permanent threat of arrest or repression". "These are things that cannot be repeated," he said.
The president remarked that Junts voted against the amnesty text when "it was not comprehensive", but now, by contrast, the legislation "meets the objectives" to "definitely return to politics the management of a conflict of nature politics". "It is a necessary but not sufficient condition" he said. On the other hand, the Junts MEP told reporters in Strasbourg that his party is "very skeptical" about the relationship with the Socialists (PSOE). "We don't have a love affair with the PSOE, but we do have a loyal will to collaborate and negotiate," he stressed.
For his part, the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, has affirmed that if Puigdemont "takes the step" to be head of the party list in the Catalan elections, Junts will "facilitate" that it is a candidacy that goes beyond the party, "open to people who want to rebel against resignation and incompetence". In an interview with Catalunya Ràdio, he added that it is Puigdemont who must make the announcement "with all the solemnity it deserves".
Despite being in exile, the man who led Catalonia to the 2017 independence referendum has been number one on the Junts party list for both of the last two Catalan elections - in December 2017 and February 2021. But this time, the amnesty law seems set to make possible his presence in Catalonia by the time of the investiture debate that will bring to power a government based on the will of the voters.