The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) candidate for the presidency of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, has not ruled out accepting the votes of the Catalan People's Party (PP) if he needs them to establish a majority in the crucial investiture vote, following the Catalan parliamentary elections on May 12th, in which the PSC obtained 42 deputies and was easily the largest party, but without a crystal clear option for achieving a parliamentary majority. In an interview this Tuesday on radio station RAC1, Illa added that the PP route is not the most likely scenario, although the door is not closed. Regarding support from the PPC, the PSC candidate stated that "it would not be the most suitable" and that "it is not the first option". Asked if he then discarded the votes of the conservative party led by Alejandro Fernández, Illa said "no", but made a call for "coherency". "I feel much more comfortable with the parties with whom we share progressive principles", said Illa, who also admitted that he would like the PP to be part of Catalonia's consensus again, in aspects such as the linguistic area.
"Unheard of" for Puigdemont to ask for Illa's vote
Illa also noted that "sociovergència is not impossible" - a reference to a possible PSC-Junts governing agreement - although he believes that "it is not the best time" because Junts rules it out. The PSC candidate also sees it as "unheard of" that the head of the Junts list, Carles Puigdemont, is asking for the support of the party that won the election. In fact, he asserted that "there are no precedents" for the leading political party to vote for the second-ranked party to govern, and he recalled that "the numbers don't work out for [Junts]". In addition, he insisted on the need to avoid a repeat election because "Catalonia does not deserve it".
To obtain the presidency of the Generalitat, Illa affirmed that he will meet with everyone except the parties that use discourses of hate, referring to Vox and Aliança Catalana. "It's time for politicians to get serious, just like happened after July 23rd [over the Spanish general election]. We need to reason, listen to each other and prioritize the interests of the country and do it with discretion", said the Socialist leader, who explained that they have already started talking with other parties without going into detail.
The parliamentary Bureau, June 10th
The next step will be the constitution of the Parliamentary Bureau, now set down for June 10th - the day after the European elections. In this respect, Salvador Illa emphasizes that the Bureau of Parliament must be representative of the chamber and did not rule out allowing the entry of the PP or investing a speaker of Parliament from ERC. "The table must not be instrumentalised", claimed Illa.