The current Catalan president Pere Aragonès, candidate of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), will be the rival to beat for the rest of the parties in the elections of May 12th, according to the party spokesperson, Raquel Sans. And a possible entry into the race of Carles Puigdemont, who will hold a conference in Elna, Northern Catalonia, this Thursday to state whether or not he will finally run for the parliamentary election, will not change this approach. "We have the president and the presidency, we are the rival to beat for those who don't want anything to change in the country. Everyone will use all means they have to try and beat Pere Aragonès", assured Sans in a press conference, in line with the words of the president himself on Saturday in a party event, where he described the May 12th election as the moment to decide between him and Salvador Illa, whom he defined as a "delegate of the Moncloa" - that is, of Pedro Sánchez's government. Asked about the first opinion surveys that have been published in this pre-campaign, which place Catalan Socialist (PSC) candidate Illa as the clear winner and Together for Catalonia (Junts) ahead of ERC, Sans said that she would not comment on polls: "For us, rigor, work and explanations of the transformation of the country", she replied.
Confront ERC's country model with that of Puigdemont
Faced with the possibility that Puigdemont will be the head of the Junts' list in the elections advanced by Pere Aragonès, even though Congress has not yet given its final validation of the amnesty due to the filibuster by the right which is expected in the Senate, at ERC they are unmoved. Remembering that Puigdemont was already number 1 on the Junts party list in 2021, when ERC surpassed Junts in votes and seats: "We celebrate that any citizen can stand for election with all the normalcy in the world. We have done it before and we are looking forward to it to confront our country models and proposals with those of Carles Puigdemont".
The Republican spokesperson recalled the work of her party in recent years, such as the Catalan political prisoner pardons of 2021 "that allowed the general secretary of Junts to leave prison", and now the amnesty. In this regard, she sent a poisoned dart at Junts, over the party's initial 'no' to the amnesty text at the end of January, which has delayed its approval: "We would have liked to have it approved two months earlier", she lamented. On the other hand, with the countdown to the elections having been officially activated this Monday, the party will hold a national council meeting on Tuesday to start activating the machinery electoral.
As well, Sans also confirmed that this Tuesday the economy minister of the Catalan government will present to cabinet her proposal for a unique financing arrangement for Catalonia within Spain - one of the major commitments of the Republicans at the head of the Catalan government - a week after the failure of their budget in Parliament. Sans argued for the need to continue working on this despite the election call: "We do not shy away from responsibilities and until the last minute we will dedicate ourselves to defending the interests of the people of Catalonia".