The Catalan pro-independence parties should be jumping for joy at how the election campaign has been made easier for them: from the truths of Spanish deputy prime minister Pablo Iglesias affirming that in Spain there is no full democratic normality to the authoritarianism represented by the dismissal of two journalists from Spanish public television for an on-screen caption during the programme La primera hora which read "Leonor is leaving Spain, like her grandfather", drawing a comparison between the announced enrolment of the princess in a prestigious school in Wales for the final years of her secondary education and the flight to the United Arab Emirates of her grandfather, Juan Carlos I. And as well, the disaster which Josep Borrell is making of his role as EU high representative for foreign affairs and also the trial of the PP's ex-treasurer Bárcenas, which is threatening to decimate the party.
If the independence movement is able to get out the votes of those who have accepted that the cohabitation of Catalonia with Spain has come to an end, since it has proved impossible to reach an understanding with a government like that of Pedro Sánchez, incapable of complying with any of the agreements it made, then they will achieve two goals: turnout will not be as low as polls predict, and the pro-independence majority will be the largest since the start of the process in 2012. This is the goal which all election headquarters will be working to achieve, wary that high abstention would make it impossible to really detect movements that would otherwise be less critical. Hanging over these elections in a significant way is the fear that many voters have of coronavirus contagion at the polling stations. It is understandable that this is the case, especially in those age groups that are more at risk and that have restricted their mobility to the maximum for many months. The organized health precautions must reduce this worry as democracy needs the participation of the citizens and that always means voting.
It is very striking to see the campaign that Iglesias is leading to rescue En Comú Podem, with a much more radical discourse than that of the Comuns and much more sensitive to the repression that exists in Catalonia than the party led by Ada Colau. Sometimes it seems that the Spanish deputy PM is speaking out with the idea of a possible upcoming election that Pedro Sánchez might call at any time when summer arrives with the intention of obtaining a majority to be able to rule alone, taking advantage of the weaknesses of Podemos, Ciudadanos and the Partido Popular. What better moment would Sánchez have to create a situation where Vox leads or co-leads the opposition, thus potentially allowing him to have everyone behind him and against the far right?
And one last thing. It seems to me that very little attention has been paid to the dismissals of two Televisión Española journalists for the caption about the king. Mistakes are always made and the speed of communication today means they can happen much more easily. The question we have to ask ourselves is whether action would have been taken against the journalists with the same forcefulness and speed if it had been a case that did not affect two members of the royal family. "Leonor is leaving Spain, like her grandfather," the news caption read, and it's no lie. It may cause offence to some, but her grandfather has left and not only that: since last August, his condition is none other than that of a fugitive and everyone knows that there is a corruption issue in the middle of it all. When it's not about putting rappers on trial, it's about sacking journalists or convicting singers. Alas, if only Europe really knew the deficits of Spanish democracy!