Esquerra has reached the midpoint of the campaign trying to mark it with proposals in all areas. The results of May 12 will say whether it is successful, because in the first section Pedro Sánchez’s letter in which he proposed continuing as head of the Government captured the attention. Yesterday this focus shifted again to Carles Puigdemont due to the offenses against the leader of Junts de Matías Carnero, president of the UGT in Catalonia and last on the PSC list. Today, in Pineda de Mar, the ERC candidate has avoided controversy to focus on the reversal of the cuts that have been carried out under his Government, according to what he has said. Republicans need to remove the focus of Salvador Illa and the former president from everything that favors them, and relocate it, if possible, to what can undermine them. That is why he has warned that “ten years of decline” will come if Esquerra does not win the elections.
The expression is a response to the formula used by Salvador Illa, PSC candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, who has repeatedly expressed that Catalonia “has lived ten years of decline” during the years of the process. The “turning the page” formula repeated ad nauseam and to which the socialist always resorts.
Thus, Aragonès has asked for the vote for his party and not to leave Catalonia “in the hands of chance”, but especially so that the PSC does not govern, which speaks of a lost decade.
“Today, after fourteen years, we can proudly say that ERC has ended the cuts in education, health, and housing,” the head of the Government boasted. Republicans associate the lack of resources in public services with Junts, but also with the PSOE at the state level. Aragonès recalled that as a parliamentarian in 2010 he proposed that to save the economic crisis the solution was for those who earn the most to contribute more. “We run the risk that if ERC does not continue presiding over the Generalitat, the cuts of the past will return,” he said.
The central campaign event of the Republicans was held this afternoon in Pineda de Mar, Aragonès’ hometown and residence. It has been here where the president has praised the management of the Government that he leads. Also where Laura Vilagrà, vice president of the Government and number two on the ERC candidacy, has opened the range of options to win victory on May 12. “These elections are key, they are very open,” she assured.
Vilagrà has criticized Illa. He has identified him with Ciudadanos. For the Republican, the socialist leader appeals to the vote of the “orphan of Cs” electorate. “No Catalan or left-wing votes for the PSC,” he has claimed. He has also addressed Junts, whom he accuses of constantly changing their minds: “Stop playing the papallona (butterfly) and go from flower to flower,” he remarked. An indirect appeal to the number two candidate of the post-covergentes, Anna Navarro, who on social networks identifies herself as @annapapallona.
Oriol Junqueras has also taken the floor to accuse the PSC and Junts of focusing their campaign “on the exaltation2 of Pedro Sánchez and Carles Puigdemont,” said with all due respect. “There are personalistic projects that forget that ours is collective,” he concluded.
