Carles Puigdemont, the mayor who became Catalan President number 130

Barcelona (CNA).- Three months after the Catalan Elections, which were set out to be a de facto plebiscite on independence, Catalonia has a new President, the Association of Municipalities for Independence’s president and mayor of Girona, Carles Puigdemont. Puigdemont resigned from office this Monday and left the mayoralty of Girona, a city 100 km north of Barcelona, after five years in this position. The new Catalan President will take office on Tuesday and according to his investiture speech will comply with the 27^th of September’s electoral mandate, launch the roadmap towards independence and start building the necessary institutions for an independent state such as the Catalan Tax Office and a central bank, amongst others.  

Puigdemont resigned from office this Monday and left the mayoralty of Girona after five years in this position. The new Catalan President will take office on Tuesday and according to his investiture speech will comply with the 27^th of September’s electoral mandate, launch the roadmap towards independence and start building the necessary institutions for an independent state such as the Catalan Tax Office and a central bank, amongst others. 

The “decisive role” of the local administrations in the pro-independence process

A member of former governing party liberal Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, Puigdemont ran for cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ in Girona and has repeatedly expressed his commitment to Catalonia’s pro-independence roadmap. Born in a small town close to Girona in 1962, Puigdemont studied journalism and was the Catalan News Agency’s first director. He was also in charge of the newspaper ‘Catalonia Today’ and collaborated with many different media.

In 2006 he became a member of the Catalan Parliament and in 2011 he was elected mayor of Girona. In 2015, Puigdemont was named president of the Association of Municipalities for Independence and has always defended his belief that the councils are the core of the pro-independence process and repeatedly emphasised the decisive role of the local governments in starting to build a new country.