Carles Puigdemont rises in polls

Less than two months ago ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was fleeing to Belgium after failing catastrophically to turn the Spanish region into an independent state. A hostile Spanish press ridiculed him for abandoning the independence cause; erstwhile separatist allies criticised him for leaving them to face Spanish justice without him. His political future looked bleak, but on Monday the 54-year-old former journalist seemed a long way from beaten as he entered the final stretch of campaigning for Thursday’s Catalan elections with his party, Junts per Catalunya, rapidly climbing in the polls. It could again become the largest pro-independence party in Catalonia — and perhaps even the largest in the region. In such a tight race Junts per Catalunya (“Together for Catalonia”) has at least a chance — even if an outside one — of being able to lead a new Catalan government. An analysis of polls by El País on Friday showed the party winning 28-29 seats, compared with 30 for the ERC, a rival pro-independence party. The largest anti-independence party, Ciudadanos, would get 32, according to the same poll. The chance that Mr Puigdemont’s party might regain significant influence over Catalan politics is a worry for Madrid, because it could rekindle the tension that dogged the region this year, culminating in October’s illegal secession referendum and subsequent declaration of independence.

As polling day draws near, Mr Puigdemont has been ramping up the rhetoric. Speaking on RAC1 radio from Belgium on Monday, he lambasted a Spanish reign of “repression and fear” against the Catalan people, in the fiery language that has helped him sweep up a huge number of pro-independence votes. He spoke of an “illegal and illegitimate coup” against Catalonia after the Spanish government in October dissolved his previous separatist government in response to an illegal declaration of independence. He is urging voters to return the previous government — meaning him — to power to give a black eye to Madrid. “I think we should tell [Spanish prime minister Mariano] Rajoy that his actions do not have democratic legitimacy . . . that we will be the ones to decide when the time has come to pick the 131st president of Catalonia,” he says. Mr Puigdemont seemed to have done all he could in October, when the Spanish state easily took direct control of the region in its response to the Catalan government’s independence bid. He fled to Belgium along with several members of his former government to avoid charges of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds. Polls had suggested that Junts per Catalunya would be decimated in a fresh election, taking less than 20 seats in the 135-seat regional chamber. But Mr Puigdemont has been able to turn the tables, gaining on the ERC, partly by surprisingly reaping the benefits of his Belgian exile. He has been able to present himself as the rightful president of the region, condemned to flee, and has been able to campaign via video, calling on voters at the weekend to give a clear message at the polls in favour of “persisting” with the independence movement and rejecting Spanish rule.

Source: FT