In Catalonia, a shift in the political landscape emerged last weekend when Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s controversial efforts to settle a decade-long political and constitutional turmoil yielded significant electoral gains. The regional faction of his party, the PSC, emerged as the leader in the poll, securing 42 seats in the Catalan Parliament of 135 members, marking an increase of nine seats and considerably reducing the votes of pro-independence factions. Despite the victory, the PSC falls short of commanding alone, yet the party strongly asserts that it is equipped to guide Catalonia into a different era.
The Sánchez government views these results as proof of the success of their reconciliatory stance towards the Catalan issue, including a debatable amnesty for several individuals prosecuted and exiled due to their participation in the unsuccessful independence referendum that disrupted regional politics.
The task of establishing a sustainable minority government to replace the separatists, who held power for 14 years, including during the controversial referendum on secession in 2017, will demand complicated and high-stakes discussions. The support from outside the government from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), perceived as the most reasonable and least radical separatist faction, will likely be pivotal. The former prevailing minority pro-independence government was led by the ERC, who suffered major losses in the elections.
In the recent elections, Junts per Catalunya, a staunch separatist faction steered by Carles Puigdemont from forced exile in France, secured the runner-up position. When President Pere Aragonès (ERC) had called for the election after his minority government’s proposed budget was shot down by opposition parties in March, it resulted in a reduced majority from 74 to 59 seats. Regardless, Puigdemont declares he will strive to form a pro-independence minority government, an ambition seemingly unlikely without ERC involvement.
The enduring division in Catalan politics was further evidenced by the successes of the conservative national opposition, the People’s Party, which saw an increase in its seats from three to fifteen. Meanwhile, extreme-right wing party Vox held its position with eleven seats.