Former councilor Miquel Sàmperha has sent a letter to Junts management to inform them that he is leaving the party due to differences in view of the latest decisions taken by the post-convergent formation. Sàmper’s dismissal takes place the day after Junts stopped the Amnesty bill in the Congress of Deputies by voting against its processing.
Junts’ decision to reject the bill and return it to the Congressional Justice Committee would have been one of the triggers that would have caused the former Interior Minister between 2020 and 2021 to leave the party . Sàmper would disagree with what happened on Tuesday with the law, as it means a delay in the application of the amnesty and puts obstacles in the way for it to be processed. The former councilor did not want to make statements yesterday, but he did not deny the news either.
The tension between the various souls living in Junts has revived in recent months. The situation of Aurora Madaula, on medical leave after denouncing “silent violence” by colleagues and being reprimanded by the party leadership, or the case of Cristina Casol, who was expelled this week from the Junts parliamentary group, are some of the examples of the differences that are experienced within the party.
Sàmper’s dismissal, effective since yesterday, also shows the discrepancies of some party heavyweights who do not agree with some of the resolutions being adopted by the party leadership. The departure of the Government already caused unrest among a very significant group of the formation that was in favor of continuing in coalition with ERC and maintaining a presence in the Government. Also, after the municipal elections, the pact with which the Republicans and the Socialists came to control the councils – Lleida, Barcelona and Tarragona – and which left them out caused astonishment.
Now the departure of the former councilor seems to be another turning point between the different sensitivities that coexist in the formation of the post-convergents. Among the ranks of Junts, not everyone understands the vote against the amnesty and the situation has caused concern in some cadres of the party.
Sàmper is a lawyer by profession and after leaving the Generalitat, in 2021, he returned to practice as such. He came to the Government to replace Miquel Buch in the portfolio of Interior after the latter lost the confidence of ex-president Quim Torra due to the arrests that were carried out on the occasion of the actions of the Mossos during the demonstrations after the sentence of October 1.
Sàmper was president of the Catalan Bar Council (2012-2014) and deputy to the presidency of the General Council of the Spanish Bar. He came to the party as mayor for CiU in Terrassa in the municipal elections of 2015 and repeated four years later. He was also a member of the Provincial Council of Barcelona.
