The decision by Carles Puigdemont to leave his role as president of Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) after the party's congress on June 4th is a real challenge for the organization, as it is losing its principal political reference. Puigdemont announced on Tuesday that it was time for the party to have a new presidency, one that can participate permanently in executive meetings and be deeply involved in the political decisions that need to be taken. His move follows the announcement a few weeks ago by Jordi Sànchez that he, similarly, had decided not to opt for re-election as party secretary general. The feelings of vertigo that will probably have been unleashed in the organization after the announcement by Puigdemont are, in part, normal. His leadership in Junts, whether exercised or not, filled all facets of the organization and he will now remain as a moral reference, which is a lot, but not everything. In addition, his involvement in the Council for the Republic, which will be total, will in the future bring a different presence to the fore in his political activity, joining that of his MEP role and, obviously, that of being the president of the Generalitat in exile.
In the coming days and weeks, Junts will have to show if it has the maturity that one expects of a political party and not turn the next congress into a spectacle in which conflict prevails over accords. It is an organization too young and fragile to be dragged into a battle of egos that would only result in diminishing an electoral space which has already reduced by itself in recent electoral processes. Because in the last Catalan elections, for example, those of February 14th, 2021, the party's result was very poor, finishing in third place after the Catalan Socialists (PSC) and the Repubican Left (ERC). It is true that there was only one seat of difference between the Socialists and ERC (33) and Junts (32), but if in the previous elections, in 2017, they were second, in the last ones they slipped back one more position and the subsequent analysis is still pending.
If Junts wants to be a contender for electoral victory in the future, it needs to look at itself in a different mirror beyond that of presenting the party as the heirs to the October 1st referendum and defenders of the independence of Catalonia: an orderly and structured party like the other political organizations is what it must be, with an ideological project that meets the daily needs of Catalan society and is not always recoiling at what other parties defend, and also with the capillarity to weave alliances that won't fall to pieces, as in many cases in recent times, if it does not achieve absolute majorities, being left as the ugly duckling when agreements are made. Therefore, the most urgent thing for Junts will be to reach a mutual understanding internally and prevent the withdrawal of Puigdemont and Sànchez from setting the ship adrift.
It is a good sign that many in the party see it this way: the fact that a few hours after Puigdemont's announcement, a group of party leaders have spoken out in favor of a unity candidacy with Laura Borràs for the presidency and Jordi Turull in the general secretariat. This is supported, for now, by a very significant and complete synthesis of the organization, starting with a large group of the Junts ministers in the government - all but Puigneró and Geis - about twenty members of Parliament, Junts parliamentarians in Madrid, mayors and territorial and sectoral leaders of the party. Among the absences are those of Artadi, Rius and the nucleus closest to Borràs. It remains to be seen what movements Turull and Borràs will make over the next few hours and days and whether the unity, which is always easier to preach than to practice, can really open a path.
In theory, Turull's experience as a veteran party man means that his aspiration to the general secretariat makes complete sense, and in this respect his position has changed since he left Lledoners prison on June 23rd, as he is moving around the territory almost daily and meeting with members. The fact that his entry into prison ordered by judge Pablo Llarena took place in the middle of his investiture as president of the Generalitat places him among the Junts leaders who are most popular with the grassroots. Everything indicates that Turull will present his bid for the general secretary's job soon. The case of Borràs is more unknown, although due to her ongoing judicial process - with a trial that has not yet been scheduled - and requirements of her role as speaker of the house which she will always have to take into account, it would be the post which would seem most logical.