Spanish vice-president boasts why ERC and Together for Catalonia are leaderless

The Spanish vice-president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría took advantage of an electoral lunch in Girona to announce why two pro-independence parties have "no leaders."

In her view, it is thanks to Mariano Rajoy and Spain's ruling People's Party that "ERC, Together for Catalonia, and the rest of the pro-independence movement do not have leaders, because they have been made headless," she boasted.

The ERC’s leader, Oriol Junqueras, is still in prison without bail, and Carles Puigdemont in Brussels uncertain whether touching down on Catalan soil could lead to his arrest.

Sáenz de Santamaría also called on people to vote for the Catalan branch of the People’s Party, the ruling party in Madrid, in order to “continue to liquidate the independence movement,” and “settle” the actions carried out since the application of (Article) 155 and the dismissal of the government.

Also present at the lunch were the Catalan People’s Party leader, Xavier García Albiol, as well as the Spanish government's delegate in Catalonia Enric Millo, and Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, Spain's minister of territorial administration.

Spain's People's Party also announced the statement to the cyber world via their official account on Twitter. The statement is already receiving backlash online.

Sáenz de Santamaría's words have already caused a backlash online, as people vent their frustration and ask where the seperation of powers lies.