Puigdemont not to run in primaries but will appear on electoral list

BarcelonaCarles Puigdemont will not be JxCat's candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat. The former president has resolved the mystery tonight in a video in which he announces that he will be part of his party's electoral list but that he will not aspire to be invested only to be stopped by "Spanish repression". Thus, as ARA advanced, Puigdemont will be part of the list symbolically but the effective candidate of Junts will emerge from the primaries, either Laura Borràs or Damià Calvet. Both are the main applicants after the deadline for submitting candidacy closed this Wednesday without Jordi Puigneró and Ramon Tremosa having taken the step.

Despite stepping aside by admitting he does not aspire to be the next president of the Generalitat, Puigdemont has remarked that he does not renounce to lead the JxCat project and that he will be part of the candidacy - without specifying in what position - and will be "thoroughly" involved in the campaign. The former president, who has been in talks for weeks about what his role should be in the elections and who has been pressured until the last minute to be the candidate, must now clarify what his role will be in the Junts list. Proposals have been put on the table that range from symbolically heading it, being number 2, closing it or even heading the Girona list.

Puigdemont, then, has finally agreed to be part of the Junts list. "I have received thousands of requests from people across the country to take this step, I cannot remain insensitive to this demand," he said in his statement. However, he has encouraged his party to "find a candidate who can occupy the presidency of the Generalitat", and has pledged that whoever wins the primaries has his full support.

The spokesperson for JxCat in Congress, Laura Borràs, is running in the primaries to be the party's presidential candidate in the 14 February elections, according to Catalunya Ràdio. The deputy later confirmed it with a video on Twitter. "Today I take a step forward: I am running in the primaries as a candidate to the Generalitat for JxCat and that's why I ask you to run with me. That you support me, that you join a project based on the strength of a people that has not renounced to achieving independence for our country", she tweeted.

Borrás is the second person to formally enter the race after the Minister of Territory and Sustainability, Damià Calvet.

JxCat members will vote for their candidate online on November 28 and 29. According to Catalunya Ràdio, Borràs has taken the decision to present her candidacy after speaking with former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont, barred president Quim Torra and with the JxCat members in Lledoners prison.

In fact, Torra has shown his support on Twitter after the video was published. In the last interview he gave to TV3 in October as president, Torra already said that, when he considered that the time had come, he would position himself and support some of the candidates who were hoping to lead JxCat in the next elections to Parliament. "When the time comes, I will take sides," he said.

Beyond the more familiar faces, JxCat affiliate Joan-Ramon Colomines-Companys has announced through a blog post that he wants to run in the JxCat primary to be the head of the party's list for the elections scheduled for February 14. The journalist and politician admits that it will be very difficult to obtain the necessary backing to run. For this reason, he has called for support to encourage debate and recalls that the regulations allow members to back more than one candidate. "The Puigdemont space can bring freedom to our country. It will only be necessary, above all, to coordinate ourselves well with all other pro-independence parties", he added.