Catalan lawmakers vote on new regional separatist leader
TORRA IS AN INDEPENDENCE ADVOCATE TASKED WITH CONTINUING PUIGDEMONT’S FIGHT
Catalonia’s parliament was yesterday expected to vote on whether to appoint hardline independence supporter Quim Torra as regional president, after deposed leader Carles Puigdemont stepped aside from the running.
Torra, a 55-year-old fatherof-three, is an independence advocate cut from the same cloth as Puigdemont who picked him and has tasked him with continuing his fight with Spain’s central government to achieve independence.
On Friday, Torra said his government would march on with its “process of construction of a republic” in a sign that the secession crisis is far from over even if Catalonia does finally get a regional government after months of political limbo.
Still, he had not been expected to get enough support during yesterday’s parliamentary vote of confidence, which requires an absolute majority that he doesn’t have.
He will get another opportunity in a second round, likely to take place tomorrow, where he will only need a simple majority — although even that is not assured.
There are currently 70 lawmakers in the regional parliament who are pro-independence, against 65 who are not.
But four of the 70 are from the radical anti-capitalist, separatist CUP party which has said it will vote for Puigdemont — and no one else.
If they decide to abstain, Torra will scrape through in the second round with a simple majority. But if they vote against, he will not succeed.
Catalonia has been in political limbo since Spain’s conservative central government imposed direct rule on the semi-autonomous region after it unilaterally declared independence on October 27, sacking Puigdemont and his cabinet.
Regional elections were held in December, which separatist parties won again. But since then, every candidate picked by the separatist camp has fallen flat.
Puigdemont is abroad in self-exile and faces jail if he returns, while other candidates such as civic leader Jordi Sanchez are in prison, charged with rebellion for their role in the independence drive.
Antonio Barroso, deputy research director at Teneo Intelligence, told AFP that Torra — an editor who also held high positions within pro-independence associations — will likely act as Puigdemont’s “surrogate”.
He will be faced with deep divisions in the separatist camp, composed of the CUP, the left-wing ERC party and Puigdemont’s Together for Catalonia grouping, he added in a research note.
“The problem is that separatist parties continue to disagree on what to do next,” he wrote.