The next day

Shall we make a little story?

Pedro Sánchez decided to call early elections due to corruption scandals and the collapse of the parliamentary majority. Sánchez decided to run again after a traumatic primary process that he narrowly survived. Sumar and Podemos, having changed their ways, decided to run together, but faced a visible storm. The Catalan independence movement also had poor prospects. ERC had to sacrifice Rufián as a candidate due to his excessively pro-PSOE profile, and Junts watched with dismay the new competition from the Catalan Alliance. The PP was aiming for a victory large enough to govern alone, and Vox was confident of making itself indispensable.

On election night, the predictions were confirmed. The PP and Vox achieved an absolute majority, the PSOE and Sumar-Podem suffered a notable decline, and the Catalan parties more or less held their own, but more divided—because, indeed, the far-right Catalan Alliance had gained representation. Pedro Sánchez resigned that same night, leaving the PSOE on the brink of a difficult and likely unfriendly transition. Yolanda Díaz also folded, while Pablo Iglesias called for rebuilding a pluralistic left. In Madrid, the streets were literally filled with crowds of people waving flags. red and yellow who celebrated the end of Sanchismo.

In Catalonia, the PP and Vox improved their results and celebrated euphoria. The PSC, despite being the winning party, endorsed the PSOE's funeral but proclaimed that Catalonia would continue to be a bulwark against the Spanish right—from Brussels—and Oriol Junqueras watched the October 1st broadcast. On the streets of Barcelona, ​​​​Tarragona, and Sabadell, numerous groups of young people with Spanish flags, some of them pro-Franco, shouted "Spain arrives" and "Puigdemont in prison". Esteladas were burned, shop windows labeled in Catalan were smashed, and the Mossos d'Esquadra had to make a few arrests.

Feijóo formed a government with Vox, of course, in exchange for a series of anti-immigration measures, the tightening of the Penal Code, a new education law, another law on rights and duties that guaranteed the supremacy of state legislation over regional legislation, and a law to defend the Spanish language..

And then what happened?

Since all this is a fabrication, we can be optimistic and say that the PSC closed ranks with Comuns and the pro-independence parties, that the Parliament rejected the implementation of the Feijóo government's program and demanded the approval of the 2006 Statute without cuts. This led to an institutional crisis and, soon after, an escalation of repression, which once again mobilized the pro-independence ranks and opened the door to a Process 2.0, led by a new generation of leaders who demonstrated (or not) that they had learned the lessons of 2017.

Or we can be pessimistic and say that Junts and ERC declared war on Feijóo, and then Salvador Illa's PSC, fearing it would be trapped in a new process and lose the votes of the Spanish nationalists, reached an agreement with the Catalan PP, on the condition that the Feijóo government respect the current ruling. Junts and ERC, unable to mobilize their bases, remained in opposition, screaming and waiting for better times. Meanwhile, the Catalan Alliance climbed into the polls.

This article is fictional, not even inspired by real events. Each reader may complete it as they see fit.