The PSC of Salvador Illa obtained the dream victory last night. He overcame the psychological barrier of 40 deputies (he obtained 42, adding nine more), narrowly prevailed over Junts, his main competitor at the polls (by seven seats of difference), and independence remained far from republishing the absolute majority. The triad of conditions foreseen to make the path to the presidency of the Generalitat as practicable as possible was met and places Illa closer to being the 133rd president of Catalonia thanks to another variable that was at risk for a large part of the night, the only “natural” sum that the polls give, according to the socialists: the left tripartite.
PSC, ERC and Commons Sum add the strict majority required of 68 seats to invest Illa, but the winner showed caution yesterday and relegated the references to pacts. Only one thing was clear: as he promised in the campaign, the candidate will present himself at the investiture.
“The Catalans have decided that it is up to the PSC to lead this new stage and I announce that I assume this responsibility and that as soon as the new Parliament has been established I will express my desire to run for the presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya”, he expressed Island in his appearance after 23 hours from the headquarters of the PSC.
The winner, greeted with shouts of “president” and “long live socialist Catalonia”, highlighted the magnitude of his victory: “After 45 years, for the first time the PSC has won the elections in terms of votes and seats”, while that the pro-independence parties have 61 seats and a little more than 43% of votes. “This allows us to affirm that the Catalans have decided to open a new stage”, he proclaimed.
The victory of the PSC was predicted, by a greater or lesser margin, by all the polls, and with last night’s victory, the party signs a quartet of electoral triumphs with Illa, whose resoluteness has increased. Since the pyrrhic electoral triumph of 2021, by 50,000 votes more than ERC, the PSC has been widening the gap with respect to its competitors. First in the municipal elections of May 2023, when he won in all the capitals except Barcelona and strengthened the metropolitan feud, and then in the general elections of 23-J, in which they scored an overwhelming victory with more than 1, 2 million votes and 19 vital seats for Pedro Sánchez to retain the presidency of the Spanish Government.
The good feelings that Illa expressed with some prudence in the last days of the campaign were confirmed last night, with a victory based on the same bases as in the previous contests, that is, the strength of the PSC in the metropolitan area in Barcelona, ??where it won 28 seats (five more than in 2021), and in Tarragona, where it won 6, one more than three years ago.
The results of the PSC are also a recognition for Sánchez and his policy on Catalonia. The amnesty and the rest of the measures undertaken by the Spanish Government and the PSOE, with many electoral costs, have been ratified at the polls, and the retreat of independenceism relegates with the same firmness the demand for the referendum they claim.
Illa did not want to overlook the role that “in particular”, he said, the president of the Spanish Government has had in his good electoral results. In his appearance he assured that his victory was due to several factors, but “certainly one of the most noteworthy has been the policies followed by the Government of Spain in Catalonia”. The candidate had the opportunity to share with the Spanish president the joy of the results and publicly sent him his “recognition and thanks” for the “leadership he has exercised” in the decisions taken so far.
The candidate promised a new stage “for all Catalans, no matter what they think, no matter what language they speak, no matter where they come from or where they live”, and he promised that “no Catalan will be left out of this new stage that we open today”.
As he proclaimed throughout the campaign, Illa reaffirmed his will to “unite and serve Catalans by putting public services as the first priority”.
“Catalonia is getting started, to work to lead Spain again”, proclaimed Illa together with party leaders such as Miquel Iceta, Núria Marín, Jaume Collboni, Jordi Hereu and Núria Parlon.
As a member of the Illa team observed, aware that in the coming weeks only tripartite will be discussed, but that last night he just wanted to celebrate, “it’s now or never”.
