Puigdemont urges unity as deadline for electoral pact nears

Catalonia’s deposed leader Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday urged the region’s political forces to unite, as hours remained for him to agree terms for an electoral pact with other proindependence parties.

Puigdemont went into selfimposed exile in Belgium last month after Spain’s central government fired his secessionist administration, dissolved the Catalan parliament and called for an election in the region for December 21.

Madrid also issued an arrest warrant against him on charges that included rebellion, but a Brussels court ruled on Monday he could remain at liberty in Belgium until it had decided whether he should be extradited.

Pro-independence parties want the December vote to become a de facto independence referendum, and Puigdemont’s PDeCAT and the ERC party led by Oriol Junqueras said at the weekend they might contest it on a combined ticket. But they must register any alliance by the end of Tuesday, and prospects of them bridging their differences in time looked slim.

ERC’s spokesman Sergi Sabria said on Monday his party did not rule out a coalition with PDeCAT, but would agree only if other parties joined them, including the anti-capitalist CUP which has yet to decide whether it will contest the December ballot.

Puigdemont and other secessionist leaders face charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of public trust for organizing an illegal independence referendum on October 1.