Dispute among unionist forces post-election

The spokesperson for the People’s Party (PP) in the Senate, José Manuel Barreiro, stated that Ciutadans (Cs) has an “obligation” to try to form a new government in Catalonia as the most-voted party, and inasmuch must assume its “responsibility.” In an interview with Spanish National Radio, Barreiro admitted that he would like for there to be a government in Catalonia “led by unionist forces,” and for this to happen, Cs has to “take action.”

Still, he recognized that this might be a difficult feat, faced with a parliamentary arithmetic that leaves pro-independence forces with majority in the hemicycle. To overcome this, the PP spokesperson insisted that its necessary to “exhaust possibility”

Ciutadans candidate replies

Ciutadans took little time to respond. The member of the previous Parliament bureau and number three candidate for Cs, José María Espejo-Saavedra, gave an interview to media outlet El Español, arguing that the responsibility was to be borne by the PP itself. “Perhaps we should be looking for responsibility from those who did not know how to transmit the value of the law and were left with four MPs,” referring to the number of chairs the PP garnered in the elections.

The Cs politician also criticized that the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) also requested the creation of a unionist government from Ciutadans, referencing that, during the campaign, the Socialist Party refused to support the idea of Cs leader in Catalonia, Inés Arrimadas, as president. “It surprises me that it’s them who encourage us to take initiative when during the campaign they said they would never support Arrimadas,” he noted.