Catalonia will hold regional elections on Sunday with a fierce battle between pro-independence and anti-independence, known as constitutionalists, the outcome of which will mark the immediate future of one of Spain’s most prosperous regions.
More than 5.5 million Catalans will be called to the polls tomorrow in the midst of the pandemic and will be able to vote on important measures to prevent contamination, which is why the Catalan government issued a call this Saturday to exercise their voting rights “responsibly” after the safety and prevention instructions.
Citizens will elect the 135 deputies of their regional parliament, from which will emerge the next president of the Catalan government.
According to the polls, the two parties that make up the current government are very similar: former President Carles Puigdemont’s independent JxCat and ERC (left-wing Republicans); and the Socialist Party, which according to some opinion polls could win the elections, although it would be insufficient to form a government if the independence movement added an absolute majority again.
INDEPENDENT VERSUS CONSTITUTIONALISTS
The political struggle between the supporters of Catalonia’s independence and those who oppose it, the constitutionalists, divides Catalan society in two and has characterized the political life of the region and influenced that of Spain over the past decade, alongside strong political instability, with five regional elections in just over a decade.
According to last January’s poll by the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO) – an organ of the Catalan government – 44.5% defend the yes to independence, compared to 47.7% who do not want Catalonia to convert to an independent state.
This division was epitomized in the last week of the campaign, when the three main pro-independence parties: JxCat, ERC and the CUP (Radical Independentistas), signed a document rejecting any government pact with the Socialists, led by the former Salvadoran minister. Illa Health.
With this environment, elections will not be decided on the right or left preferences of the political arc, but between those who are favorable or against independence, and therefore a pact between leftist groups with ERC is practically impossible. case the socialists have won.
In national politics, however, ERC is a regular parliamentary support for the Spanish coalition government, chaired by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, to which the left-wing group United We Can also belongs.
On the other hand, the conservative Popular Party, the second political force in Spain, has only four seats in Catalonia and is struggling not to be overtaken in these elections by the far-right Vox, who is in power for the first time.
Meanwhile, Ciudadanos (Liberals), who won the previous December 2017 elections, although he could not rule for the union of the independents, may be downgraded to fourth or fifth place this time, according to polls.
Against this background, a very tough election campaign ended yesterday, but also unusual due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, without meetings and with the candidates present only through the media or social networks.
Today, the eve of the elections, in Spain it is not allowed to campaign, so the candidates dedicated the day to the family, to watch TV series and relax at home.
VOTE IN TIMES OF PANDEMIA
In Catalonia, one of Spain’s regions where the third wave of the pandemic was tougher, although it has diminished over the past week, authorities confirm that everything is set for a safe vote.
The number of polling stations throughout the region has expanded, but especially in the capital, Barcelona, where other spaces have been added to the traditional educational centers, including ten municipal markets and 23 sports pavilions.
In addition, they recommend that the elderly and the most vulnerable vote in the first three hours and that infected and quarantined people do so the last time.
Likewise, the polling stations will have staff to control the orderly access of the voters, to ensure the use of the mask and to ensure the hygiene of the voters’ hands.
In spite of everything, more than 265,000 people (5.3% of the census) have already voted by email and will therefore not go to the voting sites, 277% more than in the last elections of 2017.
On the other hand, the Catalan executive today assured that all polling stations could be formed, after more than 37% of the members, chosen by lottery, filed charges to be exempt from this requirement.