In Amer, Carles Puigdemont’s hometown and “in the square where he played as a child”, Junts per Catalunya held its central event yesterday prior to the general elections on July 23.
The former president, who intervened by video conference and who until now had played a discreet role in this campaign, appealed “to the unity of independence” and questioned the strategy of Esquerra in Madrid during the last legislature So, the formation took the opportunity to make an appeal “to the disappointed voter of ERC and the CUP”, in addition to trying to mobilize the abstentionists who stayed at home in the municipal elections in May. “Catalonia does not defend itself with its hands in its pockets”, emphasized Puigdemont in this regard.
For her part, the head of the Junts list and leader of the formation in Madrid, Míriam Nogueras, insisted that the Junts vote is “the only useful one” for Catalonia.
Under the sun and among a large number of fans brought to combat the temperatures by the more than 200 residents who came to the square, Junts marked what will be his speech until the end of the campaign.
Nogueras accused the Socialists of “acting like the PP” in relation to Catalonia, and insisted that even if “they fight, the Spanish right and left are together against Catalonia”, so he called to “beat the Fascist Spain” and those who “oppress Catalonia”.
For her part, the president of the party, Laura Borràs, emphasized that “the State has not stopped criminalizing Catalan independence”. In his speech, Borràs categorically ruled out a hypothetical support for the PSOE in the event that its formation is decisive. “We will not invest in anyone who is not willing to sit down to find a democratic solution in Catalonia”, he pointed out.
Aware that the call to curb the right-wing mobilizes an undecided electorate, the general secretary, Jordi Turull, insisted that “fascism must be stopped”. “There is nothing better than independence to do it, not the socialists”, he pointed out.
The Junts leader also criticized the ERC strategy in this campaign and the republican candidate Gabriel Rufián emphasizing that “it does not help independence to spend the day justifying Irene Montero and Pedro Sánchez” while criticizing Puigdemont.
Beyond trying to activate the sovereignist voter who stayed home in May, Junts tried to fish in the Republican fishing grounds. In this task, Antoni Castellà had a rough time, who scolded Rufián, that “they have taken his hair”. “The dialogue table has been a deception, a Trojan horse with repression, loss of competences and whitewashing of the Spanish”, he asserted. On this issue, Puigdemont criticized that ERC “hides its candidate” and that it has given “free rein” to the coalition Government in recent years. “We don’t want Spanish allies,” he said. “We do not abstain when we are attacked”, replied the former president.
Castellà also called on Rufián “to return to the unitary candidacy”, and mocked the common front proposed by ERC for Rodalies. “Common front, yes, but for everything”, he added.
“Disappointed voters of ERC, the CUP and abstentionists, we don’t want you to stop being leftists, we just 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- Or”, reaffirmed Castellà, with a speech aimed at alleviating the abstention.
The votes of the undecided and abstentionists can be key and Junts are aware of this, which is why Turull also insisted on the same idea. He assured that “if anyone has doubts about going to vote, they should do so in the name of Puigdemont”.
