On the same electoral night of 12-M, a new competition began in Catalonia. The socialist Salvador Illa and the post-convergent Carles Puigdemont expressed their willingness to run for the investiture, thus opening a new battle for the presidency of the Generalitat that will have a flying goal, the constitution of the Parliament Table.
With the numbers on the table, PSC and Junts have more or less realistic options of taking over the presidency of the Catalan Chamber, which is very relevant for the future of the investiture, but the most plausible ones require the assistance of ERC, which is why both parties will try to seduce the Republicans, now mired in an internal crisis.
The presidency of the Parliament marks the beginning of the legislature and has a decisive responsibility for the struggle between Junts and PSC: the designation of the candidate for the investiture. The designative role that the King exercises after the general elections is held in Catalonia by the president of the Chamber, the second authority of Catalonia, but while the head of State acts with neutrality, in the Catalan regime the political color of the president of the Chamber becomes relevant. Parliament
The PSC seeks a left-wing agreement with ERC and Comuns to invest Illa. They insist that it is the “natural” formula that adds an absolute majority and would allow control of the Table and ensure the election of the socialist leader, but Junts wants to attract ERC to snatch the presidency of the Parliament and the Generalitat from the PSC. However, this maneuver would lead to an electoral repetition because it is impossible for Puigdemont to have a majority that does not include, whether active or passive, the PSC itself.
The socialists are aware that it will not be easy to forge an alliance with ERC for Illa’s investiture. For almost all the variables they require your votes in favor and the recently opened crisis within the party does not help.
Contacts with ERC have barely begun, therefore there is still no negotiation, but in the PSC they are clear that they are not willing to give up control of the Parliament without having Illa’s investiture on track. The PSC only considers two alternatives: that the presidency of the Chamber be a socialist, or that of the ERC if there is a left-wing entente.
The PSC does not want to let many more days pass before starting to sit down with ERC, but they will impose absolute discretion for their own interest and to not delve into the internal crisis open in the party. In the PSC negotiating team, practically the same one that managed to tie up the Barcelona Provincial Council for the socialists, there are leaders who regularly collaborate with ERC officials at the local and supra-municipal level and the agreement has even been good.
PSC sources assure that many ERC leaders with public office (in town councils, provincial councils, regional councils and other institutions) would give their blessing to an agreement to invest Illa, as former leader Joan Tardà did yesterday. Furthermore, they believe that ERC would have more reasons to favor the left-wing agreement than the agreement with Junts.
To begin with, the scenario drawn by the results of the polls. The Parliament, which must be formed on June 10 at the latest, has tilted to the right. Five conservative and ultra groups will compete for the opposition role, so ERC “should choose where it wants to be,” they warn in the PSC. The political cycle in Catalonia has changed after the breakup of the process blocks.
The electoral repetition is not a promising scenario in the current situation of Junqueras’ party. There are those who consider that voting again would cause greater demobilization of the independence movement and a concentration of the vote in PSC, Junts, PP and the far-right parties, but no one predicts a greater return for the Republicans, who would also go to the polls without a clear candidate. after the resignation of Pere Aragonès.
The composition of the Board will depend on the agreements that lead to the presidency of the Chamber. In principle, four groups have the power to be in the parliamentary control body: PSC, Junts, ERC and PP. The socialists insist that everything will depend on the alliances, but they recognize that the PP has the right to a seat, something that would coincide with Illa’s desire to “start Catalonia without sides or blocs”, as indicated in the letter sent to the militancy these days.
Puigdemont plans to outline today the strategy to follow to achieve his inauguration. Junts’ plan involves attracting ERC towards a renewed independence unity, as the former president claimed on the same election night. It would mean rebuilding the bridges in the middle of an internal crisis, in full competition for the European elections and with the backpack of misgivings due to the breakup of the Aragonès Government.
For now, Republicans are only thinking about how to get out of their own quagmire.