Article 155 in the spotlight on day 11 of the campaign

What the political situation might be in Catalonia the day after the December 21 election is anyone’s guess. However, one thing most people expect is that Article 155 of the Constitution, implemented by the Spanish government to suspend Catalan self-rule, will be revoked and some form of democratically elected government will take charge.

The issue of Article 155 was one of the main topics of debate on day 11 of the election campaign on Friday. Yet, depending on which party you ask, opinions on the infamous constitutional clause varies, even between parties who are on the same side of the political divide.

Rovira stands by ERC’s main candidate

Talking to ACN, the number two candidate on the ERC party ticket, Marta Rovira, said that the response of the new government would depend on “the strength of the democratic mandate” and the “reaction of the State”. The republican party leader refused to comment on statements from candidates on the Together for Catalonia (JxCat) ticket, who said that a failure to reinstate Carles Puigdemont as president, whether he wins or not, would be to “legitimize Article 155”. “Each of us has our own election campaign. Our candidate is Oriol Junqueras and we are here to win the election,” was all Rovira was willing to say.

Puigdemont’s recipe for defeating 155

Exiled president Puigdemont was more forthcoming, arguing that the best way to defeat Article 155 will be to “reinstate the same government” that the measure had dismissed, “illegally and illicitly,” he said, adding: “The choice is not whether one party or another wins, it is whether 155 wins or not, and that there be no other,” he said from Brussels via video.

Article 155 “proportional and reasonable” says Rajoy

The Catalan People’s Party candidate, Xavier García Albiol, was not impressed by Puigdemont’s words, comparing the ousted president with “a dictator from an undeveloped country.” With Albiol was the PP’s director of communications, Pablo Casado, who defended the application of Article 155 as a tool for “recovering legality and social harmony.” Meanwhile, the head of the PP and Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy, also addressed the issue of Article 155 on a visit to Brussels, calling its application “proportional and reasonable”, while admitting that “exceptional measures must not go on for too long.”

CUP’s aim is to “finish” with 155

The main candidate in Tarragona for the CUP party, Xavi Milian, had little time for such interpretations or justifications of Article 155. He said that his party’s main objective is for the pro-independence bloc to regain its majority in the Parliament so as to make progress towards a republic and to “finish” with Article 155.

Election will be the end of 155 predicts Cs leader

Independence and Article 155 were also the joint issues that the candidate for the Ciutadans party, Inés Arrimadas, was concerned with, albeit from a very different point of view than Milian. Yet, where the two candidates on opposite ends of the political spectrum did agree, was in calling for an end to Article 155. “Obviously, we demanded that 155 be applied with a condition, which was the urgent calling of an election to provide a democratic solution. We are convinced that December 21 will put an end to the process and to Article 155,” said Arrimadas.