Separatist parties set to lose power in Catalan regional election
Sam Jones
Separatist parties are in danger of losing their decade-long hold of power in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, with the pro-union Socialist party poised to win the most votes in Sunday’s election, according to a near-complete count of the ballots.
The four pro-independence parties, led by the Together party of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, were set to get a total of 61 seats, short of the key figure of 68 seats needed for a majority in the chamber.
The Socialists, led by former health minister Salvador Illa, were on course to win 42 seats, up from 33 in 2021, when they also barely won the most votes but were unable to form a government.
The Socialists will still need to earn the backing of other parties to put Illa in charge. Dealmaking in the coming days, perhaps weeks, will be key to forming a government. Neither a hung parliament nor a new election is out of the question.
But Illa’s surge should bode well for the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the Socialists before European parliament elections next month.
Read the full story here.
Key events
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s socialist prime minister, congratulated Salvador Illa last night for a “historic” result in the Catalan election.
“From today, a new phase begins in Catalonia to improve the lives of citizens, expand rights and strengthen coexistence,” he said.
Enhorabuena, @salvadorilla, por este histórico resultado conseguido en Catalunya.
Los socialistas volvemos a ser la primera fuerza.
Desde hoy se abre una nueva etapa en Catalunya para mejorar la vida de la ciudadanía, ampliar derechos y reforzar la convivencia.
Quiero…
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) May 12, 2024
After yesterday’s election in Catalonia, the conservative People’s party (PP)‘s Alberto Núñez Feijóo said the group’s results “exceeded our best expectations.”
The PP won 15 seats.
Felicidades al @PPCatalunya y a @alejandroTGN por un resultado extraordinario, que ha superado nuestras mejores expectativas.
Gracias a los más de 340.000 catalanes que nos consolidan con claridad como alternativa constitucionalista.
El PP de Cataluña ha vuelto para quedarse.
— Alberto Núñez Feijóo (@NunezFeijoo) May 12, 2024
Sam Jones
What are Illa’s plans?
The Socialists, led by former health minister Salvador Illa, won the most seats in Sunday’s election in Catalonia.
“This election could – and should – open a new era in Catalonia that I’d define in two words: the verbs ‘unite’ and ‘serve’,” Illa told the Guardian in an interview ahead of the vote.
“‘Unite’ because we need to stop focusing, as we have over the past few years, on issues that divide Catalan society and which try to put it on either side of a line. We need to underline and emphasise the common bonds – regardless of our ideas, our language, our background or our feelings – that we have as Catalans.
“And ‘serve’ because we need to underline that public services, such as education, healthcare, housing, transport and safety, will be the chief priority of the regional government.”
He accused the moderate pro-independence Catalan Republican Left party (ERC) and Junts per Catalunya, the centre-right, hardline pro-independence party, of being too preoccupied with independence to improve Catalonia’s declining public services or to prepare for the drought the region has suffered for the past three years.
“When you talk to people about what matters to them, they talk about the drought, about education – which was always excellent in Catalonia, but which is now lagging behind the rest of Spain – about infrastructure, about safety, about healthcare,” he said.
“It’s about public services that have been neglected and which have got worse over the past 10 years under Junts and [ERC] governments. It’s been a lost decade.”
Read the full story here.
Members of Spain’s socialist party celebrated the outcome of the regional election in Catalonia, arguing that the results show “the policies of dialogue” of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, have been successful and are leading to a “new phase”.
Separatist parties set to lose power in Catalan regional election
Sam Jones
Separatist parties are in danger of losing their decade-long hold of power in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region, with the pro-union Socialist party poised to win the most votes in Sunday’s election, according to a near-complete count of the ballots.
The four pro-independence parties, led by the Together party of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, were set to get a total of 61 seats, short of the key figure of 68 seats needed for a majority in the chamber.
The Socialists, led by former health minister Salvador Illa, were on course to win 42 seats, up from 33 in 2021, when they also barely won the most votes but were unable to form a government.
The Socialists will still need to earn the backing of other parties to put Illa in charge. Dealmaking in the coming days, perhaps weeks, will be key to forming a government. Neither a hung parliament nor a new election is out of the question.
But Illa’s surge should bode well for the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the Socialists before European parliament elections next month.
Read the full story here.
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