FC Barcelona will support vote on Catalan independence

Barcelona (ACN).- FC Barcelona supports holding a vote on Catalan independence by joining the National Pact for the Referendum (PNR). The club announced their decision through a press release before their game in La Liga on Saturday. One of the first people to congratulate this decision was Catalonia’s president, Carles Puigdemont, who wrote the following in a tweet: “democracy joins forces”. The National Pact for the Referendum is a campaign to collect signatures from institutions, organizations, elected representatives, and private individuals, both within and outside of the country in support of holding a referendum on the political future of Catalonia. The group is comprised of the Catalan government, political parties, and organizations.

Around 400,000 people signed the National Pact for the Referendum manifesto between the beginning of the campaign in February and Sant Jordi day, April 23. The platform’s coordinator Joan Ignasi Elena praised the group’s “broad base” and its “political quality”, and he also emphasized the quantity of signatures saying it is “extraordinary that 400,000 people have made the move of expressing their commitment to holding a referendum”. Indeed, this number is “growing”, according to the platform. Later this month, a final evaluation of the referendum support campaign will be carried out. 

Visualizing support for the referendum

At the Barcelona Conference Center on May 19, the National Pact for the Referendum, which is comprised of the Catalan government, political parties, and organizations, will show and “visualize” all the support they have received so far for the binding referendum. The members of the executive committee of the PNR, Joan Ignasi Elena, Francesc de Dalmases and Itziar González, particularly emphasized the support the campaign has received from international organizations. According to Elena, Dalmases and González, the event on May 19 has to work as a “loudspeaker” in order to explain to people what has been done so far. 

González explained that a general assessment of the PNR will be made in a separate meeting of the National Pact for the Referendum Board at the Parliament after May 19. During the event at the Barcelona Conference Center, she said, “we want people to hear what we have been hearing up to now.” In this way, the group plans on communicating the wish of the majority of the Catalan society to hold a referendum. On May 19, the total number of received signatures will also be updated.