Jailed pro-independence leaders urge forming a government

A group of jailed pro-independence leaders have urged Carles Puigdemont to make a move to form a new government in Catalonia. Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn all ran on Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) ticket in the last Catalan election. The four of them, who except for Forn are still MPs for JxCat, sent letters to their party leader stressing the importance of a new executive for the country so as to avoid a fresh election.

No government since October

Catalonia has had no government since the Spanish executive sacked the Puigdemont cabinet last October. After the pro-independence camp held on to its parliamentary majority in the December 21, 2017 Catalan election, four presidential bids have been blocked by the Spanish judiciary, because the candidates for the post (Puigdemont, Sànchez and Turull) were either in jail or abroad.

There is now less than a month to go until the deadline for the pro-independence parties to swear in a candidate. If Catalonia still has no president on May 22,  an automatic snap election will be triggered. In fact, in their letters to Puigdemont, the jailed MPs argue for swearing in a candidate and forming a new government soon on the grounds that a new election must be avoided. Junts per Catalunya sources told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) that all their MPs have “the same position.” 

Delegated vote

The main pro-independence groups, JxCat and ERC, have enough representatives between them to swear in an MP as president, especially after the parliament bureau accepted the delegated vote of the members of the Catalan Parliament abroad –although this decision is likely to end up being challenged in the Spanish Constitutional Court.