Oriol Junqueras to continue as Esquerra party leader after internal vote

Oriol Junqueras will continue as Esquerra leader for four more years after being elected by the party members in an internal vote.

The politician, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail for his role in the 2017 independence push and spent three and a half years behind bars before being pardoned, topped the only bid to lead the party and was supported by 87% of Esquerra members, with a 50.2% turnout. 

Junqueras will continue as president, and his second-in-command, Marta Rovira, will stay as secretary general. 

Both of them have been leading the party since 2011, and this will be their final term because Esquerra's regulations does not allow them more mandates. 

Indeed, it is their fourth term, and the party rules allow only three, but an exception for both of them was put forward arguing that they had not been able to comply with their functions at all times. Junqueras spent three and a half years in jail and Marta Rovira has been in exile, in Switzerland, for four and a half years, in order to avoid being convicted also for the 2017 referendum in Spain.

Esquerra had only 10 seats in Parliament when Junqueras and Rovira began their leadership in 2011, and the party now boasts 33 and is governing solo over Catalonia for the first time in 89 years. 

Current Catalan president Pere Aragonès will continue in the party leadership too as national coordinator, while spokesperson Marta Vilalta will stay as deputy secretary general.