“First you have to count votes and seats, and then move well”, prescribed a veteran socialist leader in view of a heart attack electoral scrutiny that, at the headquarters of the PSOE in Ferraz, some predicted with irony that it would lead to a night, rather than historical, hysterical. Not surprisingly, Pedro Sánchez’s determined bet that, this time, Salvador Illa would succeed in regaining the presidency of the Generalitat for the PSC after almost fifteen years had raised expectations… which could have accentuated the frustrations if the arrow the target was wrong.
At the same time, however, the complexity of the effort was not hidden from anyone, as long as, to begin with, the ballot boxes cleared the way for a pro-independence majority. And in turn, the electoral result could have a very direct impact on the mandate of Sánchez, who needs Junts and ERC for every new step he wants to take in this uncertain legislature, first of all to be able to approve new general budgets of the State for next year that they can consolidate and stabilize their current mandate.
The night, however, ended in celebration in the noble hall of Ferraz, where the PSOE leadership was gathered, while Sánchez followed the scrutiny from Moncloa. The president thus regained his breath and regained political momentum after his personal crisis of the five days in April in which he kept the continuity of his mandate in abeyance. The PSC won the elections for the second consecutive time, for the first time in votes and seats. And he reached the coveted 42 seats, seven more than Carles Puigdemont, with the option to govern in a minority or to form a new left-wing tripartite to avoid deadlock and repeat elections.
“The only option to govern Catalonia is Salvador Illa”, concluded Ferraz. With a main derivative: “The measures of the Government of Pedro Sánchez to return coexistence to Catalonia today receive a very important endorsement and impetus”. The way of dialogue and, also, the Amnesty law which has already completed its processing in the Courts.
Catalonia, according to the PSOE, “turns the page and opens a new era with Illa”. With an important novelty: “Forty years ago the pro-independence options had an absolute majority in Parliament, until today”.
So the scrutiny began to have consistency, in Ferraz they would have already signed the result, with a PSC located at the ceiling of their most optimistic expectations, with 42 seats, and the option of a solo and minority government, or that a left-wing tripartite can be re-edited, despite a fall of ERC that will throw it into a hard digestion, and without an alternative pro-independence majority. Ferraz crossed his fingers, and assured that none of the hypothetical partners of a tripartite party led by the PSC – ERC and Commons – are interested in repeating the elections.
Illa’s victory was indisputable. And Sánchez can face the European campaign with an extra injection of petrol.
