Parties urged to back joint civil candidacy

Supporters of a joint civil candidacy to stand in the December 21 Catalan election have called on all parties opposing the direct rule imposed on Catalonia by Article 155 of the Constitution to join the initiative. “We will only win the election if we see it as a plebiscite between the 155 bloc and the Catalan Republic bloc,” said one supporter on Friday.

The promoters of the idea are urging parties “to meet and seek agreements” once the 55,000 signatures needed to present a joint candidacy have been gathered. The hope is that all the signatures will have been collected by 9pm on Monday November 13, and to surpass this number before the deadline to present joint candidacies runs out on November 17.

The pro-independence list would be made up of the dismissed Catalan ministers being held in prison, the heads of Catalonia’s two main civil organizations who are also being held in custody, the “Catalan government in exile” in Brussels, the members of the Catalan parliamentary bureau under investigation and mayors from all over the country.

55,000 signatures needed

The idea for the single joint ticket comes from the merging of two existing initiatives, llistaunitaria.cat and respublica.cat. "We realised that they were two complementary initiatives," said Pere Pugès from respublica.cat. "We are a group of people trying to collect 55,000 signatures and nothing else,” added Pugès. Once the signatures have been collected, the idea is to put the joint ticket "at the service of the political parties."

According to Aurora Madaula from llistaunitaria.cat, the aims of the joint candidacy should be "simple" and based on three points: "sovereignty" to stop Article 155, "freedom" for the "political prisoners" and the beginning a "constituent process". For Madaula, for parties to stand for the election on separate tickets would be “to fall into the trap” of treating the election like any other regional ballot.

Puigdemont’s backing

While the pro-independence parties are now merely “aware” of the initiative, its promoters believe they will come round to the idea, as they have accepted other initiatives from Catalan civil society in the past. In an interview with Catalan News on Friday, Catalan president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, said he liked the idea, while the imprisoned head of the Catalan National Assembly, Jordi Sànchez, is reported to also personally approve of the idea.

The presentation of the 'Llista unitària 1 d'octubre' (October 1 unity list) took place on Friday morning in the Ateneu barcelonès, where the first signatures were gathered. Among those attending the presentation were former Catalan minister, Ferran Mascarell, and former MP, Pilar Rahola. The initiative’s supporters have called on the public to help in gathering signatures during the demonstration planned in the Catalan capital on Saturday evening.