This Thursday began the election campaign in Catalonia for the May 12 electionsmarked by the uncertainty about whether Pedro Sánchez will continue or not as president of the Government. Of what happens this mondaywhen the head of the Executive announces his decision after taking five days “to reflect”, the strategy of the Catalan parties will depend.
The cancellation of Sánchez’s agenda has already had effects on the campaign PSCto which the president was going to go to support Salvador Illa. But it can also have consequences on the socialists’ main rivals: ERC and Junts. The first reactions of its candidates, Pere Aragones and Carles Puigdemontafter Sánchez’s surprise announcement, have oscillated between nuanced support for the situation he is experiencing and disbelief at his hypothetical resignation.
If Sánchez decided to leave office and PSOE tried invest in a substituteERC and Junts would find themselves in an uncomfortable situation, since a new president may not want to reach agreements with the independentistas.
“What differentiates us does not define us”
So, the PSC candidate for the elections Catalan, Salvador Illa, has culminated his campaign kick-off event this Thursday with a clear slogan: “We need strength to make it possible, we need strength to govern.” During the rally, the former Minister of Health reaffirmed his commitment to “unite and serve” the Catalans if they give him the confidence to be president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
To the beat of It’s time by Imagine Dragons and surrounded by 1,600 people, including the Minister of Industries, Jordi Hereu and the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume CollboniIlla has valued plurality and diversity of the Catalan community, while at the same time it has opted for tolerance and respect between citizens who do not think the same, do not feel the same and sometimes, do not speak the same language either. “The coexistence for us it is the most precious assetis the cause and consequence of progress,” he said.
“We left home crying”
“We will resist all attempts to Spanishize This campaign because it is not about Spain, it is about Catalonia“, stated from France the candidate of Together and former president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont. “We are at the end of a long repression that has a father and a mother, who are called PP and PSOE,” she said.
Puigdemont, who has started the campaign In Argelers, he was greeted with the cry of “independence” and before he spoke, a video was broadcast that recalled the ‘procés’ and the illegal referendum of October 17. “We are at end of a stage of repression because we have resisted,” said the former president. “Imagine what we can do the day we lead this country again,” he added.
The Catalan has not hesitated to challenge Sánchez for his decision this Wednesday. “We leave home crying because we know Spanish justice“, he pointed out.
“I’m in love too”
For his part, the president of the Generalitat and candidate for CKD, Pere Aragones, wanted to start his campaign by giving value and pointing out all those projects that have been carried out during the legislature. He has also argued that “good management” of the Government It has served to put citizens at the center of policies.
From the Jardinets de Gràcia and among a thousand supporters, Aragonès has accused Sánchez of not wanting to stand up to the extreme right. “I’m in love too of my wife, but I never abandon when the extreme right attacks it, I stand up,” said the ERC candidate, who, in addition, has assured that Sánchez’s letter will allow Illa to talk about him and not of his proposals for Catalonia.
