Party plans to reinstate Puigdemont as president

Despite being detained in Germany, Carles Puigdemont is once again in the frame to become the candidate for Catalan president. With his arrest on Sunday sparking protests around Catalonia in which scores of people were hurt, Puigdemont issued a call for calm on Monday morning. In a message passed on by his wife, the Catalan leader insisted that “now is no time for violence”. The reaction to his arrest shows that Puigdemont remains a key figure in the independence movement. In fact, a spokeswoman for his Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) party said on Monday that they were working to “see how” Puigdemont might be sworn in as president again.

In an interview on public television, JxCat’s Elsa Artadi said her party was not only working to find a way for Puigdemont to retake office, but that it should “not be symbolic but real”. The party’s aim to reinstate Puigdemont comes on the back of the United Nations Human Rights Committee calling on the Spanish authorities to ensure that former presidential candidate, Jordi Sànchez, can “exercise his political rights.” Puigdemont originally stepped aside so Sànchez could become the candidate, but Sànchez was not given permission to leave prison to attend the Parliament to be sworn in as president.

In fact, on Monday the pro-independence camp announced it wants a plenary session in Parliament this week to demand respect for the "political rights" of Carles Puigdemont and other presidential candidates. The parliament speaker confirmed that the plenary session would take place on Wednesday.