Carles Puigdemont, who last week left Waterloo (Belgium) and settled in Northern Catalonia, wants to participate in at least one debate during the electoral campaign for the May 12 elections and with this objective the Junts Puigdemont per Catalunya has asked TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio to hold one of them in Perpignan, the capital of the northern Catalan region of Rosselló (France).
The Junts candidacy has sent a letter addressed to the directors of the two Catalan public channels, Sigfrid Gras and Jordi Borda, in which it proposes that, given that “TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio are a national television and radio station that includes Catalunya del North within their scope of coverage” and which have recently reopened their delegation there, organize an electoral debate in Perpignan.
The request, which aims – according to the letter – to “hold a debate on equal terms with the rest of the candidates, without technical obstacles that prevent or hinder the full expression” of the candidate, comes after the president of the Generalitat, Last week, Pere Aragonès proposed a three-way debate between him, as Esquerra candidate, Salvador Illa (PSC) and Puigdemont himself, “wherever”, in a clear allusion to the judicial situation of the former president and now MEP, who does not has been stepping on Spanish territory since the fall of 2017 to evade the action of Spanish justice.
While Junts remained silent until today regarding the possible debates, last Friday the PSC rejected both the possibility of a three-party debate and the possibility of holding a debate outside of Catalonia, which was interpreted as a clear rejection of this was done outside Spanish territory. In any case, Aragonès has also shown himself willing to have a face-to-face meeting with the former president if Illa did not accept.
The post-convergent leader, who has established his residence in the Vallespir region, had a mass bath on Saturday at the presentation of his training lists in the old schools of Elna. His intention is to star in the entire campaign from there and banish telematic connections at rallies for the first time since he went to Belgium.
It is foreseeable that if the proposal for a debate in Perpignan does not prosper and taking into account that Junts has reiterated today its willingness to “attend all possible electoral debates”, the candidate representing Junts will be number 3 on the list for Barcelona. , the former Minister of Territory and Sustainability and current president of the party’s national council, Josep Rull.
Puigdemont has already recently announced that he intends to return to Catalonia if he has a chance of being sworn into Parliament after the results of May 12. If such a circumstance occurs, it would occur around June 20, with the Amnesty law expected to be in force.
Precisely this Monday, the judge of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court Susana Polo has summoned him as an investigator to testify voluntarily and electronically on June 17 to 21, together with the deputy Rubén Wagensberg, in the case opened last month of February for alleged terrorism crimes in the Tsunami case.
The PP candidate. Alejandro Fernández has used irony to respond to Junts’ proposal. “Puigdemont asks to hold the TV3 debate in Perpignan… and why not at my house? You will all be very comfortable and I will have canapés…”, said the popular politician, adding that “a campaign cannot be the reality show of the life and miracles of Puigdemont”
