Parliament speaker proposes Jordi Sànchez as presidential candidate

The pro-independence parties, Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) and Esquerra Republicana (ERC), have confirmed a pre-agreement on Monday in order to invest the imprisoned Catalan leader Jordi Sànchez as president of the country.

JxCat’s spokeswoman, Elsa Artadi, said that there is a near-definite accord between the parties, after they met with the parliament speaker Roger Torrent. Torrent also met with other party representatives through the course of the day in order to discuss the future presidency of Catalonia.

Artadi asked Torrent for “time” in order to be able to convince the far-left CUP party in order to be able to get sufficient votes for the investiture of Sànchez. JxCat, therefore, do not want the plenary debate to take place before Thursday.

The JxCat spokeswoman has been entrusted with the signing of the final agreement with ERC between Tuesday and Wednesday before presenting it to the CUP.

In a blow to major pro-independence parties in Catalonia, far-left CUP decided on Saturday to abstain if Jordi Sànchez, a grassroots activist jailed in Madrid, is voted as candidate for president. Without CUP's support in parliament, Carles Puigdemont would be forced to resign as MP in order for Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) and Esquerra Republicana (ERC) to have enough votes to elect Sànchez as president.