Salvador Illa, candidate of the Catalan Socialists (PSC) in the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia on May 12th, has taken a step further than in previous statements this Thursday: he showed himself ready to talk with Carles Puigdemont after May 12th to form a government in Catalonia, and did not rule out entering into an agreement with Together for Catalonia (Junts), as long as that party does not prioritize the independence of Catalonia: "At any price it will be very difficult, but we will wait and see which path they decide to take and why", stated the Socialist in an interview with radio network Cadena Ser.
Just minutes later, Puigdemont gave a definitive response to his electoral rival from Argelers (Northern Catalonia), where his candidacy is holding all its campaign events: "We will not make an agreement with Mr Illa", he affirmed, at the same time as he urged other parties to explain with the same clarity what their post-electoral pacts would be. "No vote for the candidacy that I lead will serve to make Illa president," declared the Junts candidate. Nor to fulfill "his project and his policies", he added.
Puigdemont, a valid representative, says Illa
Asked whether these possible conversations with Junts after the election should be with the Catalan president-in-exile, Illa refused to put limits on who would sit at the table: "I will respect the interlocutors proposed by Junts. My relationship with this political space has been with the leaders they have in the Parliament of Catalonia and the party's organic leader", noted the Socialist, referring to Albert Batet, leader of the Junts parliamentary group, and Jordi Turull, although he added that in the event that Junts appoints Puigdemont as interlocutor, he would accept it: "I care more about the 'what' than the 'who'. I conceive of politics as a dialogue to reach agreements, I think that they are key in politics and I am open to reaching them with all political spaces except those who wave the flag of hatred," offered Illa in reference to far-right parties Aliança Catalana and Vox, even though his party has not signed the anti-fascist accord, for which it has been criticized by the Republican Left (ERC).
Asked directly about a possible pact with Junts, the PSC candidate decided to wait and see what results Puigdemont's party achieves at the polls - with the vast majority of surveys predicting that it will come second behind the Socialists - and what they then decide to do. "We have had the opportunity to collaborate in other institutions and we have to see what option they take. If it is the option of maintaining independence as a priority it will be very difficult, we will wait to see which path they choose", he stated in the same interview .
A new manifesto of support for Illa
A couple of days after the manifesto of the SI platform (standing for Salvador Illa) was made public, a declaration of support for the PSC candidate, signed by figures such as the singer-songwriter Joan Manel Serrat, film director Isabel Coixet, and television presenters Jorge Javier Vázquez and Chelo García Cortés, a hundred people have joined and signed a manifesto entitled "Now, Illa. Now, Social Catalonia" in support of the head of the PSC list and his candidacy on May 12th. Those who have signed the statement assert that they will give their vote "to the political proposal led by Salvador Illa" and call to "concentrate the left-wing vote" under the Socialist banner.