December 21 election will be “referendum drill”, says major Union leader

Camil Ros, secretary general of UGT Catalunya, the Catalan branch of the major trade union, has said that the coming December 21 elections will be a “referendum drill,” as the results will be interpreted as yes and no votes for independence, as well as everything in between.

The election “will give a picture” that the Spanish state “must reflect on,” said Ros, calling for mass participation and demanding that parties define their social agenda beyond the relationship between Catalonia and Spain.

He hopes that that the number of voters exceed 80% of the electorate, and highlighted that parties need to clarify what they will do to tackle problems such as unemployment and poverty.

"Those who are elected will be elected for a term, not for 15 days, and it is important to know what they propose beyond the relationship between Catalonia and Spain," he said.

According to him, it is necessary that politicians “continue to negotiate” as this is how “democratic societies solve their problems. It does not solve them with judges.”

He has demanded the release of Catalan officials and grassroots independence leaders, affirming that the results will demonstrate support for Catalan independence clearly.

"The elections will give us a picture of how we are now, and from here we must negotiate. And obviously in democratic societies the important legislative changes, of constitution or of statutes, are made by voting, so sooner or later they will have to be voted on,” he added insisiting that the ongoing political conflict must be decided by voting.