Catalonia is holding regional elections on Sunday, with a tough fight between pro-independence and anti-independence, known as constitutionalists, the result of which will mark the immediate future of one of Spain’s most prosperous regions.
More than 5.5 million Catalans are called to the polls tomorrow amid the pandemic and will be able to vote with important measures to prevent the contagion, so the Catalan government called on Saturday this year to exercise its right to vote “responsibly” ”, Safety and prevention instructions.
The citizens will elect the 135 deputies of their regional Parliament, from which the next president of the Catalan government will emerge.
According to polls, the two parties that make up the current government are very equal: former president Carles Puigdemont’s JxCat pro-independence activists and ERC (left-wing Republicans); and the Socialist Party, which, according to opinion polls, could win the election, although it would be insufficient to form a government if the independence movement again adds an absolute majority.
VERSUS INDEPENDENT CONSTITUTIONS
The political struggle between the supporters of Catalonia’s independence and those who oppose it, the constitutionalists, divides Catalan society in two and has marked the political life of the region and influenced that of Spain in the last ten years, in addition to causing strong political instability. regional elections in just over ten years.
According to the most recent survey conducted in January last year by the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO) – a Catalan government body – 44.5% defend independence, compared to 47.7% who do not want Catalonia to convert in an independent state.
This division was embodied in the last week of the campaign, when the three most important pro-independence parties: JxCat, ERC and CUP (radical pro-independence), signed a document rejecting any governing pact with the Socialists, led by former minister Salvador Illa Health.
With this environment, elections will not be decided on the basis of preferences for the right or left of the political arc, but between those in favor or against independence, which is why a pact between left-wing groups that includes the ERC is practically impossible. case the socialists won.
However, in national politics, the ERC is a regular parliamentary support for the Spanish coalition government, chaired by Socialist Pedro Sánchez, which also includes the left-wing group United We Can.
On the other hand, the Conservative People’s Party, the second largest political force in Spain, has only four seats in Catalonia and in these elections it is fighting not to be overtaken by the far right Vox, which is running for the first time.
Meanwhile, Ciudadanos (liberals), who won the previous elections in December 2017, although unable to govern for the union of independents, this time could be demoted to fourth or fifth place, according to polls.
In this context, yesterday ended a very tough election campaign, but also unusual due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, without rallies and with candidates present only through the media or social networks.
Today, on the eve of the elections, the campaign is not allowed in Spain, so the candidates dedicated the family day, watching TV series and relaxing at home.
VOTE IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC
In Catalonia, one of the Spanish regions where the third wave of the pandemic was hardest, although it has fallen in the last week, the authorities say that everything is ready for a secure vote.
The number of polling stations throughout the region has been expanded, but especially in the capital, Barcelona, where other spaces have been added to traditional educational centers, including ten municipal squares and 23 sports pavilions.
In addition, they recommend that older and most vulnerable people go to the polls in the first three hours and that infected and quarantined people do so in the last three hours.
Likewise, the polling stations will have staff to control the orderly access of the voters, to guarantee the use of the mask and to ensure the hygiene of the voters’ hands.
Despite all this, more than 265,000 people (5.3% of the census) have already voted by mail and thus will not go to the polls, 277% more than in the last elections in 2017.
On the other hand, the Catalan executive assured today that all polling stations can be set up, after more than 37% of the members, chosen by lot, presented accusations to be exempted from this obligation.