Junqueras chosen as EFA party candidate to head European Commission in upcoming election

Former Catalan vice president, Oriol Junqueras, one of the pro-independence leaders now on trial in Spain's Supreme Court, has been chosen by the European Free Alliance (EFA) as its 'spitzenkandidat' (lead candidate) to stand for president of the European Commission.

The EFA, a party in the European Parliament that groups together some 40 regionalist political parties, including the Esquerra Republicana (ERC) party that Junqueras heads, unanimously chose the former vice president to stand in the May 26 European election.

ERC confirmed that Junqueras will also be the party's candidate in the Spanish general election set for April 28.

It is the first time the EFA has put forward a spitzenkandidat for the elections, and the party's president, ERC's Jordi Solé, said that Junqueras was chosen to "expose the repression in Spain" and to show "the regression of fundamental rights and democracy in the entire EU."

Asens tops Catalunya en Comú candidacy in Spanish election

Meanwhile, deputy mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Asens, will become left-wing Catalunya en Comú party's main candidate in the upcoming Spanish general election on April 28.

Asens will head a list that also includes the MP in the Spanish congress Aina Vidal, another deputy mayor of Barcelona Gerardo Pisarello –who two months ago said he aimed to run in the European election–, MP in the Spanish congress Joan Mena, and senator Maria Freixenet. Catalunya en Comú will be one of the parties in the Spanish left-wing coalition led by Pablo Iglesias' Podemos.