Politics

32.2% Catalan citizens have already voted in the Spanish Elections. The participation rate in Catalonia is slightly lower than that of the last General Elections, in 2015, when 35.2% had already voted by 14.00 (CET). The region with the highest rate of participation so far is Tarragona, with 32.8%, followed by Barcelona with 32.6%, Girona with 31.4% and Lleida with 29%. In the whole of Spain, 37% of the 36,518,100 million Spanish citizens entitled to vote have already done so, a similar figure to that of the last Spanish Elections. Election Day has started without any remarkable incidents and the polling stations, more than 57,000, have been set up as normal.

Spaniards go to polls again this Sunday, after a ballot on the 20th of December 2015 resulted in a fragmented parliament where no party had the 176 seats required to form a government. This election may mark the end of the two-party system comprised of the Conservative People’s Party, PP, and the Spanish Socialist Party, PSOE, which have alternated in the Spanish government since 1982. Two new parties burst in the last Spanish Elections are set to have a key role to reach agreements and form a new government: Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ and alternative left ‘Podemos’. According to most polls, governing PP is set to win the elections but without majority, as it happened in December, when they got 123 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament. PSOE suffered a huge decline and obtained 90 seats. 'Podemos' was third force with 68 seats and 'Ciutadans' obtained 40 MPs.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont stated this Friday that Scotland will have “clear options” to win a second referendum on independence, as some Scottish who voted ‘no’ to independence in 2014 were afraid of being out of the EU if they separated from the United Kingdom. Now that the United Kingdom has voted for ‘Brexit’, this threat no longer exists. “Today they lost both; independence and remaining within the EU”, said Puigdemont, and assured that this should be something “to think about”. The possibility of holding a new consultation over independence in Scotland emerged this Friday, after Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, admitted that a second referendum was “highly likely” to be held after the Scots voted to remain in the EU this Thursday in the EU referendum whereas the UK overall chose to leave.

Liberal Convergència (CDC), run for the last Spanish Elections under the name ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’ (‘Democracy and Freedom’) and secured 8 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament. Thisat was the first time that CDC raun for the Spanish Elections without Christian Democrat ‘Unió’, after their 40 years-long coalition split up over differences on Catalonia’s pro-independence process. This time around, Convergència has decided to run under theirhis original name and present themselves as a guarantor that Catalonia’s push for independence staysed “united” and “strong”.  “Our trajectory supports us”, stated  CDC’s candidate for the Spanish Elections, former Catalan Government’s spokesman Frances Homs, ion an article published by CNA.

The political scandal following leaked recordings that revealed conversations between current Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Díaz, and Director of Catalonia’s Anti-fraud Office, Daniel De Alfonso, trying to smear Catalonia’s main pro-independence parties continues. New tapes published this Thursday bySpanish newspaper ‘Público’ suggest that De Alfonso planned to replace former Catalan President, Artur Mas, with Germà Gordó, the Catalan Minister for Justice at the time of the conversation. Former Catalan Minister for Home Affairs, Ramon Espadaler, and some businessmen allegedly agreed with the plan, De Alfonso tells Fernández Díaz on the leaked recording. In his appearance before the Parliament’s Commission for Institutional Affairs this Thursday, De Alfonso considered himself “a scapegoat” and accused the parties in the Catalan Chamber of being “hypocritical”.

The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) obtained 7 MPs in the last Spanish Elections, half of what they obtained in 2011. Although their partner in Spain, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) was the second force in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament, PSC suffered a huge decline in Catalonia, mainly due to its refusal to hold a referendum on independence and also because it is regarded as a party from the ‘establishment’ in comparison to new forces such as Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ and Alternative Left ‘Podemos’. To try to reverse this negative trend, PSC decided to change its lead candidate for the upcoming Spanish Elections, to be held on the 26^th of June. Former Spanish Minister for Defence, Carme Chacón, was replaced by Meritxell Batet, who has insisted on reforming the Spanish Constitution in order to solve the political problem between Catalonia and Spain.

Current Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, reacted this Wednesday to the recordings published on Tuesday by Spanish newspaper ‘Público’ which revealed a conversation between current Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Díaz, and the Director of Catalonia’s Anti-fraud Office, Daniel de Alfonso Laso, about trying to smear Catalonia’s main pro-independence parties left-wing ERC and liberal Convergència. “I just found out yesterday”, stated Rajoy and added did he didn’t know “who was Director of Catalonia’s Anti-fraud Office nor that this position even existed”. The scandal comes five days before the 26-J Spanish Elections and puts Fernández Díaz in a very sensitive position, as he is running for the Spanish Elections in Barcelona province.

The Catalan Chamber has started the necessary procedures to dismiss Director of Catalonia’s Anti-fraud Office Daniel De Alfonso, on account of his involvement in a smear scandal against pro-independence parties liberal Convergència and left-wing ERC. He will also be called this Thursday to give explanations before the Parliament’s Commission for Institutional Affairs and may be definitively dismissed by next week. According to a series of recordings published on Tuesday by Spanish newspaper ‘Público’, De Alonso and current Spanish Minister for Home Affairs and People’s Party candidate for the Spanish Elections in Barcelona, Jorge Fernández Díaz, allegedly plotted to find information to discredit political rivals in Catalonia in 2014.

A recording published this Tuesday by Spanish newspaper ‘Público’ revealed a conversation between current Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Díaz, and the Director of Catalonia's Anti-fraud Office, Daniel de Alfonso Laso, about trying to find dirty laundry and proof to discredit Catalonia’s main pro-independence parties left-wing ERC and liberal Convergència. The scandal comes five days before the 26-J Spanish Elections and puts Fernández Díaz in a very sensitive position, as he is running for the Spanish Elections in Barcelona province. Catalan Government spokeswoman and CDC member, Neus Munté, has called for Fernández Díaz “to offer explanations” and other parties are already urging him to resign.

Alternative left coalition ‘En Comú Podem’ won the last Spanish Elections in Catalonia, obtaining 12 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament. Despite having repeatedly insisted on their aim to keep Catalonia within the Spanish State, their partner in Spain ‘Podemos’ is the only Spanish party which has openly supported holding a referendum on independence in Catalonia. ‘En Comú Podem’, which have been accused by some parties of being “too ambiguous” on this matter, call for turning Spain into a “plurinational state” with “differentiated solutions for Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia”, one of their candidates, Xavier Domènech, told the CNA. ‘En Comú Podem’ gathers together members from Catalan Green-Socialist party ICV, the Catalan branch of the Spanish party ‘Podemos’ and representatives from the 'En Comú' candidacies, which won significant mayoralties in the last local elections, for example that of Barcelona, with social activist and now Barcelona mayor Ada Colau as its strongest asset

Left-wing pro-independence ERC is one of the two main parties that form pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, together with liberal Convergència (CDC). Despite winning the 27-S Catalan elections with this alliance, ERC will run for the Spanish Elections on their own, as they did on the 20^th of December. Indeed, they obtained then 9 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament, their best result ever. ERC candidate for the Spanish Elections, Gabriel Rufián, has insisted on the party’s reliability in comparison with other left parties, such as radical pro-independence CUP, which has opted not to run for the Spanish Elections, and alternative left alliance ‘En Comú Podem’, whose position regarding Catalonia’s push for independence has been repeatedly accused of being “too ambiguous”. “We know we have kept our promises”, Rufián said to CNA.

Six of the 15 members of radical left pro-independence CUP’s national secretariat stepped down this Friday. In a joint letter, they reported “sectarian and Machiavellian attitudes” regarding the decision-making process which led to the failed investiture of former Catalan President, Artur Mas and also the anti-capitalists’ veto on the draft budget for 2016. The signers insisted that their decision is “irrevocable” and accused CUP of “moving away from the pro-independence strategy” assumed by the party’s programme. CUP’s national secretariat spokesman, Xevi Generó, announced that the process to choose new members will start next Monday.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, responded this Thursday to those who claim that the pro-independence process is provoking “company drain” in Catalonia and assured that this is “false”. During the presentation of Catalonia’s Economic Report at the Chamber of Commerce, Puigdemont pointed out that 815 companies moved their tax base in 2015, which represents 0.32% of the total of companies with salaried employees and 14% less than in 2014. He also explained that Madrid lost 1,035 companies’ tax addresses last year, 0.5% of the overall number of companies in this Autonomous Community. Thus, Puigdemont lamented that some try “to spread the rumour” of an economic reality in Catalonia which “doesn’t help to create an atmosphere of confidence”, but which on the other hand “foreign investors do have”.

Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ obtained 40 MPs in the last Spanish Elections, held in December 2015. This was the highest figure ever achieved by a Catalan party. Indeed, besides being one of the most fierce opponents to Catalonia’s push for independence and having denied Catalonia’s right for self-determination, this young party was born and raised in Catalonia and has a Catalan candidate running for Spanish President, Albert Rivera - two aspects which have been emphasised by the party during this recently started electoral campaign. In a press conference at CNA headquarters,‘Ciutadans’ candidate for Barcelona, Juan Carlos Girauta, also defended his condition of being Catalan and called for those “pro-independence supporters” who chose this option because they were “upset” with Spain, to vote for ‘Ciutadans’. “We want to explain to them the advantages of our project”, he said, which is “building a Spain which is worth it”. 

The possibility of holding a unilateral referendum on independence has not been rejected by the Catalan Government. According to Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, this option will be considered as long as it has “total democratic legitimacy” and “international homologation”. However, Munté emphasised that the roadmap towards independence, which foresaw an 18^-month term of office and constitutive elections afterwards, is still “in force”. “We don’t give up on the pro-independence roadmap but we are open, of course, to listening to all those options which would go in the same direction”, she stated. The possible celebration of a unilateral referendum on independence was first raised by radical left pro-independence CUP in the last weeks and it has been brought into the spotlight of the Spanish electoral campaign by several Catalan parties.