Heating up
WORLD: A split opened up in the Catalan separatist camp with the leaders of the two main proindependence parties trading preelection barbs.
SPAIN: A split opened up in the Catalan separatist camp yesterday with the leaders of the two main pro-independence parties trading barbs just as the region prepares to go to the polls.
Oriol Junqueras, who heads the Left-wing Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and is in prison on remand facing rebellion and sedition charges, made a veiled attack on Carles Puigdemont, the ousted Catalan regional president, who has fled to Belgium to avoid arrest.
‘‘I went to prison because I do not hide and I am consistent with my acts,’’ he said in a radio interview.
Puigdemont, who faces the same charges, left the country after an illegal independence referendum in October because he claimed he could not expect to receive justice in Spain.
Puigdemont, who leads the proindependence conservative Together for Catalonia party, shot back, saying: ‘‘I am also in Belgium because I do not hide and I am consistent.’’
Rather than stand on a joint ticket, as the separatist parties did in the last regional elections in 2015, they have opted to stand separately in this week’s election, citing political differences.
Madrid sacked the Catalan government after an independence declaration in October and called snap elections in a bid to halt a secession drive which has caused Spain’s worst political crisis in decades, damaging the economy and dividing society.
A poll published yesterday predicted that the ERC would gain the most seats, followed by the centrist Citizens party, which opposes Catalonia’s independence.
Ines Arrimadas, leader of Citizens, told a rally in Barcelona yesterday that the election could be decided by a ‘‘few votes’’.
‘‘That’s why I ask that no-one stays home . . . to put an end to the nightmare of this independence drive and to start a new phase of reconciliation and common sense,’’ she said.
Recent surveys of voting intentions have suggested that neither the separatists nor the anti-independence bloc will win a decisive victory.
If parties are not able to agree on a governing coalition, Catalonia could face fresh elections early next year, which would prolong political uncertainty in Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.
The Bank of Spain has warned that continued political deadlock in Catalonia would dent growth. It trimmed its growth forecast for the Spanish economy next year from 2.5 per cent to 2.4 per cent and from 2.2 per cent to 2.1 per cent in 2019. Parties entered the last day of campaigning yesterday.
The ERC held a small rally outside the Madrid prison where Junqueras is being held, but opponents of independence staged a counter-demonstration, waving the Spanish flag and a banner reading ‘‘Spain never surrenders’’.
Junqueras faces an investigation by authorities for using his daily five-minute telephone call from jail to ring a radio station and give an interview.
He could face a loss of privileges if authorities decide he broke prison rules. – The Times