Paul Auster writes in Baumgartner, his latest book, that life – and politics is a part of it – is dangerous and something unforeseen can happen to us at any time that changes everything. And he still adds that this is an anxiety to which we should get used to, but if we are not aware of it, if we have not paid attention to the importance of chance, then we are not fully alive.
One of the curious things of our time is that the last week of the electoral campaign is decisive. More and more undecided voters arrive at the final stretch leading to the polls without having their vote decided and what happens in these final six days is worth its weight in gold. Then mistakes are expensive. In the last Basque elections, the error of Pello Otxandiano, EH Bildu candidate, who did not dare to describe ETA as a terrorist organization, took its toll. The same thing happened to Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the general elections, when he resigned to participate in the TVE four-way debate: the right ended up being represented by Santiago Abascal (Vox) and his radicalism subtracted votes from the PP candidate, who went see Moncloa early.
In the Catalan elections on Sunday, this week could be crucial, especially when almost a third of the voters are in doubt about who they will vote for, so what happens these days will be vital. In the YouGov survey for the Ara, it is made clear that the parties with the most undecided who could vote for them are PSC, ERC and the PP. On the other hand, the electorate of Junts appears as the most mobilized, but at the same time it is the formation with the most limited capacity for growth. Almost half of those who are not clear who to vote for would not want Puigdemont as president.
According to political scientists, it is increasingly common for voters to decide their vote at the last minute. People live in the present, they only seem to care about the next moment and thinking is less interesting to them than TikTok. So, although Auster wrote The Moon Palace in the last century, one of his most resounding sentences remains valid: “If you are not prepared for everything, you are not prepared for anything”. A sentence that, without a doubt, sounds like a warning.
