carme chacón

One of the most charismatic faces of the Catalan Socialist Party and once contender to Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, ahead of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) has died at 46. The news reported his death this Sunday night due to a heart disease she suffered since her childhood. hacón was Spain’s first female ministers during Zapatero’s term of office in 2008, after shortly being Spanish Parliament’s VP and Spanish Minister for Housing. In 2016 she stepped down from PSOE’s Secretary for International Relations. “She left nobody indifferent”, said Catalan Socialist Party leader, Miquel Iceta. “Today we feel more orphan, more lonely and sadder”, he added. Many representatives from the Catalan executive, the PSOE and the Spanish Government have expressed their condolences on Twitter and admitted to be by “devastated” by the news.

PSC is the Catalan branch of the Spanish Socialist Party, a force which has alternated in the Spanish Government with the People’s Party (PP) for the last 32 years. Their influence in Catalonia started to decline in 2010 in favour of nationalist and pro-independence parties. Now the Socialists are the third force in the Catalan Parliament and the opposition party in Spain’s Congreso de los Diputados. However, many polls claim their key position in the Spanish chamber might be overtaken by alternative-left Podemos or anti-Catalan Nationalist Ciutadans, both running for the Spanish Elections on the 20-D for the first time. PSC’s candidate for Barcelona, former Spanish Minister of Defence Carme Chacón, is convinced that the Socialists are the only guarantee “to chase Mariano Rajoy out” from the Spanish government and restore “the dialogue” between Catalonia and Spain. 

The members of pro-independence radical left CUP voted against Artur Mas' candidacy for Catalan President with 823 votes out of 1,300 and urged cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' to make a move. "If there are elections in March it will be because 'Junts Pel Sí' won't have made the move that people are asking for" stated CUP's number two, Anna Gabriel, and reinforced the party's will "to stay at the negotiations table". CUP's position is now reinforced by their base and their strategy is still to launch an action plan against social poverty, break with the Spanish state, start a constitutive process and choose "an alternative to Mas", as pointed out by CUP MP Benet Salellas. Therefore, they rejected the cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' proposal to create a "college presidency" with Mas leading the government together with three "government commissions" with delegated competences.

On Catalonia's National Day, the Spanish unity association Societat Civil Catalana (Catalan Civil Society, in English), organised a demonstration to protest against the self-determination process in Tarragona. It was a demonstration organised weeks ago as an answer to the massive pro-independence rally organised on the same day in Barcelona. The Tarragona demonstration gathered 7,000 people according to the local police and 3,500 according to the Catalan Police. It was backed by the People's Party (PP) – who runs the Spanish Government, the populist and Spanish nationalist parties C's and UPyD, and by leading members of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), such as Carme Chacón. They chose this city because it used to be the capital of the Roman Empire's province of Hispania Citerior. The PP leader in Catalonia said that "the silent Catalonia is raising its voice". The leader of C's accused the parties supporting self-determination of "dividing Catalans".

For the first time since 1982, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) has voted differently to the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), to which is federated. The PSOE is opposing Catalonia’s self-determination right and voted against the petitions urging the Spanish Government to engage in talks with the Catalan Executive in order to allow the organisation of a self-determination referendum in Catalonia. The Catalan Socialists oppose Catalonia’s independence from Spain but they back Catalonia’s right to self-determination and thus they supported the petitions. As an anecdote, the PSC MP Carme Chacón refused to back the petitions, as she is in the running as a candidate to lead the PSOE. The petitions were finally rejected by 78% of the Spanish Parliament, mostly from the People’s Party – which runs the Spanish Government and holds an absolute majority in the Chamber – and the PSOE, apart from the PSC.

Catalonia is the only autonomous community where the Socialist Party has clearly won, but has lost around 35% of its MPs, according to the exit poll released by TV3. The People’s Party (PP) will remain Catalonia’s third biggest force, behind the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalists (CiU), who will increase their share by some 40%. The exit polls released at 20.00 CET, when the polls closed, indicate an absolute majority for the PP and an historical defeat for the Socialists throughout Spain. The PP will get between 181 and 185 MPs, when the absolute majority is 176 seats. The election day has been calm, with a lower turnout than in the 2008 elections, particularly in Catalonia.

Next November 20th, Spaniards will vote for the new Spanish Parliament. They will elect one of the lists running in their province, which is their constituency. Catalans will thus elect the lists running in the four Catalan provinces. Therefore, they will not directly elect Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (PSOE) or Mariano Rajoy (PP), but their party candidates in Catalonia, as well as parties only running in Catalonia, such as the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) or the Catalan Green Socialist Coalition (ICV-EUiA).