parliament

Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) president and mayor of Girona city Carles Puigdemont has been instated as Catalan President number 130 by an absolute majority of the Parliament. Puigdemont, a member of cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ proposed by current Catalan President Artur Mas, obtained 70 votes in favour, 63 against and 2 abstentions. The investiture debate took place this Sunday after a last-minute agreement between pro-independence forces ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and CUP and just before all the legal deadlines were due to expire and new elections would have had to been called in Catalonia.

The results of the 20-D Spanish Elections will force the political parties to reach agreements, as none of them have obtained an absolute majority of 175 MPs. Anti-Catalan nationalism ‘Ciutadans’, which obtained 40 MPs in the 20-D, have proposed a coalition whereby they, the conservative People’s Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) would unite against “those who want to break the country apart”. “If there isn’t a roadmap for change, there won’t ever be stability and the populists will take advantage of our system’s decadence” warned Ciutadans’ leader, Albert Rivera, and added that “Spain is not negotiable”. Ciutadans’ offer comes after the PSOE refused the PP’s proposal to reach an agreement. The PSOE’s leader, Pedro Sánchez, insisted on their ‘no’ to Mariano Rajoy and assured that they would work to form a government of change. 

The party led by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has obtained 123 MPs from the 350 in the Spanish Parliament, which represents a decline of 63 seats in comparison to the last Spanish Elections. The Spanish Socialist Party, PSOE, has obtained 90 seats, 20 less than in 2011 and the two new parties running for the Spanish Elections for the first time, alternative left Podemos and anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans, got 68 and 40 seats respectively. In Catalonia, alternative left coalition En Comú Podem has won the elections, obtaining 12 MPs. Pro-independence left wing ERC has obtained 9 MPs, three times more than in the 2011 elections. Democràcia i Llibertat got 8 MPs and Catalan Socialist Party 7 MPs, half of what they obtained in 2011. Ciutadans have secured 5 representatives in their first time running for the Spanish Elections, the same number of seats as the Catalan People’s Party (PPC). The overall turnout in the whole of Spain was 73.22%.

The figure is 3.4 points higher than it was at the same hour, 18.00 (CET), on the day of the 2011 General Elections. The Catalan region with the highest rate of participation so far is Barcelona, with 57.6%, followed by the Girona region with 54.9%, Tarragona with 54.6% and Lleida with 52%. In the whole of Spain, 58.3% of the electorate have already cast their vote, a figure which is slightly higher than in 2011 (57.6%). Journalists from nearly 600 media outlets are accredited and will be following Election Day in the main parties’ headquarters.

The figure is 3.4 points higher than it was at the same hour, 14.00 (CET), on the day of the 2011 General Elections. The Catalan region with the highest rate of participation so far is Barcelona, with 57.6%, followed by the Girona region with 54.9%, Tarragona with 54.6% and Lleida with 52%. In the whole of Spain, 58.3 % of the electorate have already cast their vote, a figure which is slightly higher than in 2011 (57.6%). Journalists from nearly 600 media outlets are accredited and will be following Election Day in the main parties’ headquarters.

This Sunday, more than 35 million Spanish citizens are entitled to elect the 350 MPs in the Spanish Parliament and the 208 members of the Senate. Election Day will take place less than three months after the 27-S Catalan elections, which saw the victory of pro-independence forces – a fact that has definitely focused the electoral campaign and the main parties’ programmes. The 20-D Spanish Elections are also set to be crucial as they may mark the end of the two-party system in Spain comprised of the Conservative People’s Party, PP, and the Spanish Socialist Party, PSOE, which have alternated in the Spanish government since 1982. Two new parties are set to burst into the Spanish Parliament and may have a key role in the post-electoral agreements: anti-Catalan nationalism ‘Ciutadans’ and alternative left ‘Podemos’. They have both shown their force and popular support in the past European, regional and local elections.

The campaign for the upcoming Spanish elections has begun. On the 20^th of December Spaniards will elect 558 of the 616 seats in Spanish bicameral Parliament: 350 for the Spanish Parliament and 208 for the Senate. The strategy regarding Catalonia and its push for independence is set to be a crucial battlefield - many parties have expressed their support or open opposition to Catalonia's aspirations and the reform of the Spanish Constitution to improve Spain's current territorial organisation has also been the focus of the main parties' programmes. Besides this debate, the upcoming elections are set to mark the end of the two-party system, represented by People's Party (PP) and Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), which have alternated in the Spanish government since 1982. Anti-Catalan nationalism ‘Ciutadans’ and alternative left ‘Podemos’ have already shown their force and popular support in the past European, Regional and Local elections and are likely to burst into the Spanish Parliament, forcing the main parties to reach agreements. 

MEPs from eight different parties asked the European Commission to urge Spain to investigate and judge the crimes committed during Franco’s dictatorship. “Justice doesn’t expire. We don’t aim for vengeance but reparation”stated Catalan left-wing ERC-NeCAT MEP Ernest Maragall on Tuesday at a joint press conference in Strasbourg. Maragall was joined by Catalan MEPs from ERC-NeCAT, liberal party CDC, left-wing ICV and christian democrat UDC, as well as MEPs from Basque nationalist PNB and Bildu and alternative left-wing Spanish parties Compromís and Podemos. They wrote a joint declaration which stated that “the principle of universal justice makes impossible the impunity of the crimes”committed during Francoism and “forces the State to judge those who were responsible”. “This is not about opening wounds but to close them”stated PodemosMEP Miguel Urbán.

The Catalan chamber will present a plea against the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC)'s suspension of the independence declaration. The Parliament's Bureau approved this on Tuesday, with the support of pro-independence 'Junts Pel Sí' and alternative left coalition 'Cataluna Sí que es Pot's 5 members of the Bureau. The Bureau’s two Anti-Catalan nationalism representatives, from Ciutadans and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), voted against the proposal. "We don't understand that a jurisdictional body could stop democracy" stated Parliament's first vice-president and 'Junts Pel Sí' MP, Lluís Corominas. According to Ciutadans' representative in the Parliament's Bureau, José María Espejo, the declaration of independence "did have an unconstitutional component" as it stated that "only those laws approved by the Catalan Parliament would be obeyed".

For the first time in the Parliament's history, a candidate for President hasn't obtained a majority in the second round. This Thursday, 73 MPs from the 135 in the Catalan chamber refused to re-elect current President Artur Mas, which is exactly the same result that the candidate got in the first round of the investiture debate. The only MPs who supported Mas' candidacy were the 62 of the pro-independence cross-party list, 'Junts Pel Sí'. Their partner in the roadmap towards independence, radical left CUP, repeated their 'no' to Mas, as they repeatedly announced they would. In the following weeks, the parliamentary groups will hold meetings to choose an alternative candidate, but if one is not chosen before the 10^th of January, the Parliament will have to call elections again.

All the groups in the Parliament, but ‘Junts Pel Sí', voted this Tuesday against Artur Mas' candidacy for re-election. "We can't be satisfied, we can't be happy with this 'no'" stated Mas, openly referring to the other pro-independence force in the Parliament besides 'Junts Pel Sí', radical left CUP. "I'll be back on Thursday, for the second phase of the vote" he assured. The current president presented this past Monday his roadmap to start building a new Catalan State and highlighted the need to reach an agreement and elect a new government in order to "start the journey" and guarantee that "the process won't be stuck". However, all the Catalan MPs, except for those from cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' lamented Mas' "lack of self-criticism" and pointed to the corruption scandals affecting his party, liberal CDC, as a reason to pass him over for the presidency.

The independence declaration approved by the Parliament this past Monday will in the end be taken before the court. The Spanish Council of State has unanimously approved the appeal that the Spanish government presented to the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) and considered the independence proposal to violate four articles of the Spanish Constitution. According to the Council, it is an attempt against Spain's "national sovereignty", "the indivisible unity of Spain" and "the subjection of the public powers to the law", besides other articles of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Spain's public prosecutor’s office also commented on the declaration and warned that the police have been called to investigate and denounce any "sedition crime" against Spain's government, referring to the Parliament's foreseen disobedience to the TC's resolutions.

A month and a half after the 27-S elections, and using up all the deadlines, the Parliament held this Monday the first session of the instatement debate. So far, the only candidate to lead the new government is Artur Mas, the current President and number four in winning cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’. However, the other pro-independence force in the Parliament, radical left CUP, has repeatedly insisted that they won’t instate Mas as President. Without the support of CUP’s 10 MPs, Mas won’t be re-elected, at least not in the first round. “Freedom is beyond ideologies and parties” he stated during his speech before Parliament. “We must orientate the sails in the correct direction in order to use the wind that we received from the 27-S elections”stated Mas, clearly referring to CUP’s position. “We can’t be stuck in the harbour, not after receiving the support to start the journey”. 

The Parliament approved this Monday the agreed declaration to start building “an independent Catalan State in the form of a republic”. The proposal, presented by the main pro-independence forces in the Parliament, cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP, obtained the support of 72 MPs from the 135 composing the Parliament (the 62 ‘Junts Pel Sí’ MPs and CUP’s 10 MPs). All the other groups, anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans, Catalan Socialist Party PSC, Catalan People’s Party PPC and alternative left coalition ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’ voted against the declaration. “The process of democratic disconnection won’t be subject to Spanish institutions’ decisions, particularly those from the Spanish Constitutional Court, which is regarded as discredited and without competences” states the declaration’s text, which also urges the new government to “obey exclusively those mandates produced” by the Parliament. 

Coinciding with the 1^st anniversary of the 9-N symbolic vote on independence, the new Catalan Parliament which has emerged after the 27-S elections will hold one of its most important sessions. Using up all the deadlines, the chamber will have to hold this Monday the first round to elect the new Catalan President and the only candidate presented so far is the current President, Artur Mas. Mas was number four in pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’and has always been the winning party’s one and only candidate for President. However, the other pro-independence force in the Parliament, radical left CUP, has repeatedly insisted that they won’t instate Mas as President. Without the support of CUP’s 10 MPs, Mas won’t be elected, at least not in the first round. The election of the new President won’t be the only decisive point on the Parliament’s agenda this Monday. Earlier in the day, the chamber will have to vote on the agreed pro-independence proposal presented by ‘Junts Pel Sí’and CUP. The declaration sets out the key points and the schedule to commence “the disconnection process”from Spain and start building a new independent state.