In Amer, the birthplace of Carles Puigdemont and “in the square where he played as a child”, Junts per Catalunya held its central event this Sunday prior to the general elections on July 23. The former president, who has intervened by videoconference and until now has had a discreet role in this campaign, has appealed “to the unity of the independence movement” and has questioned the strategy of Esquerra in Madrid during the last legislature.
Thus, the formation has taken the opportunity to appeal “to the disappointed voter of the ERC and the CUP”, in addition to trying to mobilize the abstentionists who in May, in the municipal elections, stayed at home and are now tempted to repeat. “Catalonia does not defend itself with its hands in its pockets”, Puigdemont stressed in this regard. For her part, the head of the JxCat list and leader of the formation in Madrid, Miriam Nogueras, has insisted that the vote for Junts is “the only useful one” for Catalonia.
Under the sun and among a large number of fans from the more than 200 residents who have come to the square, Junts has marked what will be his speech until the end of the campaign. Nogueras has accused the Socialists of “acting like the PP” in relation to Catalonia, and has insisted that even if “they fight, the Spanish right and left go together against Catalonia”, for which he has called to “bend the Fascist Spain” and those who “oppress Catalonia”.
For her part, the president of the party, Laura Borràs, stressed that “the State has not stopped criminalizing the Catalan independence movement.” And if the former president assures in the newspaper Ara that he would not give his votes to invest Sánchez after 23-J, Borràs has continued this morning in the same vein: “We will not invest anyone who is not willing to sit down to find a democratic solution in Catalonia”.
Aware that the call to stop the right mobilizes an undecided electorate, the general secretary, Jordi Turull, has insisted that “fascism must be stopped”. “There is nothing better than the independence movement to do it, not the socialists”, he pointed out.
The leader of JxCat, in addition, has pointed out that “it does not help the independence movement to spend the day justifying Irene Montero and Pedro Sánchez” while criticizing Puigdemont, a dart at his former ERC partners.
Beyond trying to activate the sovereignist voter who stayed at home in May, Junts has tried to fish in the Republican fishing grounds. Antoni Castellà has worked hard in this task, who has snapped at the ERC candidate, Gabriel Rufián, that he “has been taken for a ride”. “The dialogue table has been a hoax, a trojan horse with repression, loss of powers and laundering of the Spanish,” he asserted. In this regard, Puigdemont has criticized that ERC “hides its candidate” and that it has given the coalition government a “free rope” in recent years. “We don’t want Spanish allies” he stated. “We do not abstain when they attack us,” the former president added.
Castellà, in addition, has demanded Rufián “to return to the unitary candidacy”, and has ironized the common front proposed by ERC for Rodalies. “Common front, yes, but for everything”, he added. “Disappointed voters of the ERC, the CUP and abstentionists, we don’t want you to stop being on the left, we just want us to concentrate the vote on Junts because it is the only candidacy that will not invest any president who does not recognize the mandate of 1-O” , reaffirmed castellà.
The final votes of the undecided and the abstentionists can be key to the final result and Junts is aware of this. Turull has also insisted on the same idea, ensuring that “if someone has doubts about going to vote, they should do so in the name de Puigdemont”.
In this Sunday’s rally, the first ovations went to the mayor of Amer, Maria Rosa Vila, and the party leaders of Girona, Marta Madrenas, Tarragona, Josep Maria Cruset, and Lleida, Isidre Gavín.
