Socialists to vote against Jordi Turull's candidacy for president

The Catalan Socialist (PSC) party is to vote against Jordi Turull's candidacy for president. That's what the party leader, Miquel Iceta, announced on Thursday. "He is not the best option to start a new period," said the head of the party. Speaking to the press, Iceta argued that Turull is linked to Carles Puigdemont's government, and therefore he cannot be the next Catalan president. "Those who wanted to achieve independence made Catalonia lose self-rule," he asserted.

Iceta stressed that his party wants a political "change" in the country, and that "mistakes of the past are not repeated." According to PSC, Turull's bid for president is proof that pro-independence parties aim to "follow a path that they themselves have admitted has failed."  

Unlike other unionist parties, PSC did not ask for the investiture debate to be called off. "Are there reasons to argue that this is illegal? No," he noted. Yet he highlighted that his party thinks the debate to pick a new president should be carried out in a different way.   

The calling of a debate to pick a new Catalan president was, in fact, welcomed by the Socialists leader. "It is better to have a debate than having no debate," Iceta pointed out. He stated that his party had been saying "for months"  that the clock to appoint a president "should start counting down" to the two-month deadline.