Campaigning from prison on day 10

The campaign for the December 21 election reached day 10 on Thursday with four Catalan leaders still in prison. Attempts to get them out of jail so that they can join the campaign have so far proved fruitless. Even the six former ministers freed last week, most of whom are standing in the election, will still have to face trial at some point in the future despite their release.

At the same time, ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has a possible jail sentence hanging over his head should he return from Brussels after the election. While no one really knows how these detentions might affect the results, or what follows, it has not stopped the candidates from having their say on the matter.

ERC's leader is interviewed from prison

The dismissed vice president and the ERC party’s main candidate in the election, Oriol Junqueras, got the ball rolling in a written interview with the Catalan News Agency, saying that “if the price of freedom is imprisonment, then we have to accept it, however painful it might be.” He also rubbished the court’s suggestion that he shared the responsibility for an “outbreak of violence”, pointing instead to the violent conduct of Spanish police on October 1.

Socialists' top candidate cannot imagine a future of 'two opposing blocs'

In response, the leader of the Catalan Socialists, Miquel Iceta, preferred to put the focus on reconciliation. The PSC candidate has floated the idea of a reprieve for any Catalan independence leaders that may be sentenced to prison. Denying that he was merely trying to win votes, Iceta said he could not imagine a future for Catalan politics “with two opposing blocs that would not speak to each other.”

Esquerra's plans to hold an event outside a prison are "frivolous", according to PP leader

However, the vice president of the Spanish government and member of Spain's ruling People’s Party (PP), Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, advised Iceta to put aside “fantastical notions” and let the judges do their work. At the same time, the leader of the PP in Catalonia, Xavier García Albiol, described plans by the ERC party to conclude the campaign outside the Estremera prison where Junqueras is being held as “frivolous”.

The more votes for Together for Catalonia, the more difficult to arrest Puigdemont, says candidate

An independence leader who has so far avoided prison is dismissed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is still in exile in Brussels. The sixth candidate on his Together for Catalonia ticket, Josep Rull, who did spend a month in pre-trial detention, thinks that a positive result will make it “very difficult” to arrest him should he return after the election. Calling support for Puigdemont “solid and powerful”, Rull said the only scenario he could see was Puigdemont being invested as president.

'Free public universities' is Catalonia in Common's promise

Yet, the main candidate for Catalonia in Common-Podem (CatECP), Xavier Domènech, preferred on Thursday to focus on other issues. He pledged “free public universities” so as to prevent students leaving the country. Domènech also boosted his left-wing credentials with a guest appearance from UK writer and activist, Owen Jones, who called for a united front against “international enemies” such as elites, banks and multinationals.

National and social agenda at the same level of CUP's agenda

It is a sentiment that the anti-capitalist CUP party would no doubt have some sympathy for. However, its candidate, Carles Riera, continued to focus on the issue of unilateral action in achieving the Catalan Republic after the election. Riera even made an appeal to the “critical mass” of Domènech’s party support, while also pledging a social agenda after the election.

Ciutadans leader flatly opposed to a left-wing government coalition

While her Ciutadans party (Cs) would certainly reject CUP’s proposals, Cs leader and main candidate, Inés Arrimadas, expressed her concern about Catalonia returning to a left-wing three-way coalition government. Saying that the mere idea “made her hair stand on end”, Arrimadas called for votes to avoid such a possibility and bring an end to the independence process.