The Catalan Republic Overcomes the Monarchy of 155

Catalan pro-independence parties keep the majority and the ‘procés’ will continue with two parties leading the way.

Junts per Catalunya, the party led by Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, won the leadership of the pro-independence movement on Thursday and aims to lead the future Catalan Executive.

The formation of the former president has succumbed to Ciudadanos, both in votes and in seats, but as allies of Esquerra Republicana (ERC), they will hold power with as the majority in the Catalan Parliament.

Even so, the absolute majority achieved by the independence block has led to the call for joining forces to “restore the legitimate government” of Catalonia.

The legally elected head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, had promised during the campaign that in case of victory of the sovereign forces, he would return to Barcelona to be invested President of the Generalitat along with the rest of his ceased government. However, on him weighs an arrest warrant in Spain that could hinder the exercise of his position if ERC and the CUP agreed to vote to elect him president once again.

That presidency, then, would be subject to the decision of the Supreme Court judge.

On Thursday, Eduard Pujol from Junts per Catalunya, said: “Rajoy has lost. It is the time of rectification, reparation, and restitution of the legitimate government,” he added.

On Thursday, Puigdemont stated: “The Catalan Republic has overcome the monarchy of 155.”

Pro-Independence Parties retain the majority

The result of the elections leave a scenario of difficult governance for Catalonia and even more difficult for Spanish politics.

Although Ciudadanos won more seats than any other party, the sum of pro-independence formations still represents the majority in Parlament. That opens the door to maintain the political agenda of the last five years.

The pacts will be essential to weave any government and the anti-system of the CUP will continue to have the key to the governance of the secessionist bloc.

Another added difficulty is that up to eight deputies elected by pro-independence parties are either political prisoners or have an arrest warrant, which can leave them in practice outside Parlament.

The results of the elections with which the government of Mariano Rajoy wanted to end the independence process ended up with a pro-independence majority which could have as many as 70 seats, four more than the minimum needed to have control, while those against Catalan independence reached 65 seats.

Catalan Voting Preference 

The party of Albert Rivera and Inés Arrimadas had a historical result with 25% of the votes and 37 seats, eleven more than in previous elections.

In second place came Junts per Catalunya, headed by Carles Puigdemont, who leads the independentismo with 34 seats.

In third place was Esquerra Republicana that did not achieve its objective of exercising the independence hegemony and was left with 32 seats.

The socialists from PSC barely kept their seats, while the Catalan party Catalunya in Comu, lost three seats and was left with eight.

The CUP’s anti-system platform, which has conditioned the political life of the last two years forcing unilateral independence, are also punished and are left with four of the eight seats they had.

Despite the clear victory of Ciudadanos,  represented by candidate Inés Arrimadas can’t really govern. Not even adding their seats to those of the Socialists and the Popular Party can they reach the majority of 68 deputies in which the absolute majority is fixed.

Specifically, they all add up to 57 seats, a number that keeps them away from the presidency of the Catalan presidency.

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