ERC and the responsibility of governing

The most rarefied elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, amidst a pandemic, have given a result that changes the leaderships both in the pro-independence bloc and especially in the unionist bloc. The pro-independence movement consolidates and increases its majority, overcomes the symbolic barrier of 50% of the votes and places ERC ahead of JxCat in both votes and seats, with a strengthened CUP and a PDECat that has not achieved its goal of entering Parliament. On the other side, the shake-up is more spectacular: the literal collapse of Ciudadanos (losing 30 seats, retaining only 6) is capitalised by a the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) that recovers its historical prominence and wins the popular vote (with 23% of the votes), while it ties in seats (33) with ERC. Ciudadanos' rout also means the the xenophobic far-right will enter the Catalan Parliament for the first time. With 11 seats, Vox has become the fourth party in Parliament, which will have to avoid giving it any kind of prominence or allow it to set the political agenda. Finally, the PP, the main opposition party in Spain, shrinks even further in Catalonia.

All this, however, has taken place in the midst of a very high and worrying abstention rate, the result both of fear due to the pandemic and of the citizens' political fatigue. The turnout was a meagre 53.5%, the lowest percentage in the history of elections to the Catalan Parliament, a sad and worrying record that should make the political class reflect. This large abstention does not detract from the legitimacy of the results, but it does force humility in their management.

Taking into account the crossed vetoes between the two winning forces (PSC and ERC), and the evident difficulty of the socialist Salvador Illa to obtain enough support to be president despite his announcement to stand for the investiture, the new panorama that emerged from the polls pushes towards a renewed pro-independence Government led by ERC's Pere Aragonès. This Government, however, should avoid the deplorable image of weakness and bitter disunity of recent years, which has resulted in a two-headed executive without a clear direction in the midst of a pandemic that has left Catalan society in a state of shock. Now is the time for responsibility, for getting down to work to defeat covid-19 first and foremost and to emerge from a deep economic and social crisis. To govern with the utmost rigour, honesty and efficiency. And to get down to it quickly: there is no time to lose. The moment is very delicate, very tough, and calls for determination, seriousness, generosity and basic consensus.

Alongside this urgent and unquestionable priority, it is also essential to work to force an end to the repression, the release of prisoners and the return of exiles, and to move towards the resolution of the sovereignty dispute. This should be done with broad agreements and internal dialogue in Catalan society, and opening negotiations with the State government that are as necessary as they are difficult. Today, holding an agreed referendum would be defended by a majority of 82 out of 135 MPs in the Catalan Parliament.