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PSC, affiliated to Pedro Sánchez's Spanish Socialists, is taking on the right and the pro-independence camp in the general election

José Montilla, currently a Socialist senator, tweeted that he has "known for long" what he has "to do" in the vote that will suspend Catalonia's self-rule

The Spanish PM, Mariano Rajoy, considered that “to reform the Constitution in order to satisfy those who will not be satisfied”, referring to the citizens supporting Catalonia’s independence from Spain, who represent more than 50% of Catalans according to polls, would be “a great mistake”. Answering a question from the former Catalan President José Montilla, Rajoy stated before the Senate that “Spain and national sovereignty are not negotiable”. However, despite these red lines, Rajoy affirmed that his attitude towards Catalonia is “to talk” in order to find a negotiated way out. More than 80% of Catalans would like to hold a self-determination vote in Catalonia.

The leader of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition, Convergència i Unió (CiU), is invested President of the Catalan Government by the Catalan Parliament. He will take office next Monday, the 27th of December. The members of his government have not been announced yet. Mas was invested by votes from CiU MPs and the abstention from the Catalan Socialist Party’s MPs.

Artur Mas began his role as future president, announcing he will collaborate with all and that his first priority is “lifting up Catalonia”. The Socialist leader José Montilla rejected his Parliamentary seat. From Madrid, the People’s Party (PP) interpreted the Catalan results as the first scene to Zapatero’s end. The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) is judging the defeat as a consequence of the crisis and not the PSOE’s attitude regarding the trimming of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy.

The Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition, ‘Convergència i Unió’ (CiU) wins. The Centre-Right forces get a clear majority in the Catalan Parliament. The governing Left-Wing parties collapse. The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) gets the worst results in history, which could be fatal for Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero future’s re-election. The speech on immigration control, the economic crisis and Spanish identity gives the Catalan People’s Party (PPC) their best results ever in Catalonia. Catalan Nationalist forces globally increase their absolute majority, despite the collapse of the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC). A new populist independence party ‘Solidaritat per la Independència’ (SI), former FC Barcelona’s President Joan Laporta’s party, enters into the Parliament. The Anti-Catalan Nationalist Party ‘Ciudadanos’ (C’s) maintains its 3 seats. The Catalan Green Socialist Party (ICV-EUiA) loses 2 seats.

With polls predicting a considerable loss of seats and a large increase of support for the opposition party, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) will very likely lose the Catalan presidency. In addition, the next municipal and Spanish elections also seem complicated for the Socialists, who currently lead the 3 levels of government (local, Catalan and Spanish). Their 3 main problems include: governing with a hand tied behind their back due to electoral agreements, a crisis of leadership and ruling all administrations in times of crisis.

The polls foresee a clear defeat for the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), led by the current Catalan President José Montilla, in the coming elections. The polls suggest that the PSC would not be able to reform the current and ruling 3-party coalition and may not be able to form a government at all. This past weekend’s news announced that Montilla would not repeat the ruling 3-party coalition. Today he clarified that a transversal coalition with the main opposition party and the most likely winner of the election, the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Party (CiU), is also out of question.

Today was the last day for the Catalan President to dissolve the Parliament and announce if the Election Day would be in October. He has not done so and therefore the most likely election date will be the 28th of November. The last legal possibility would be the 16th of December.

Catalan President José Montilla and Spanish minister Manuel Chaves meet to demonstrate their will to cooperate in the development of the original Statute

After the controversial Constitutional Court?s sentence on Catalonia?s autonomy, the Catalan President met the Spanish PM to discuss the resulting scenario. Yesterday, the Catalan parties in the Spanish Parliament failed to pass a motion on the sentence

The meeting will be held next week. Both politicians will discuss the recent sentence of the Spanish Constitutional Court, which has trimmed the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Saturday?s demonstration will be on the table.

The Declaration of Barcelona on Good Governance Practices and Transparency has been issued. It aims to foster and better explain the participation of citizens in political processes.