Joan Tardà asks ERC for a joint candidacy with CUP and Comuns
The former MP advocates for a common left-wing front in the Spanish elections, but also in the Catalan elections of 2028.
BarcelonaFormer ERC deputy Joan Tardà is one of the few public allies Gabriel Rufián has found in advocating for a unified candidacy of parties to the left of the PSOE to confront the far right. Until now, Tardà had defended "a plurinational left-wing common front" where ERC would share a list with Sumar, Podemos, or Bildu in the general elections. Now, however, he is going a step further. In an interview on Cadena Ser radio, the former spokesperson for the Republicans in Congress has asked ERC to discuss running jointly with the Comuns and the CUP, both in Spain and in Catalonia. "It makes no sense that a citizen who votes for the CUP, Comuns, the Left, or the Communists should have to choose separate lists," he stated.
Ever since Rufián put that possibility on the table, The ERC leadership has closed the door And he reiterated that it is not on their roadmap. The Republican leader, Oriol Junqueras, asserted that the only election where it "makes sense" to run with other parties is the European elections, as ERC already does with Bildu and Més and BNG under the Ara Repúbliques banner, because the constituency is a single one. Furthermore, ERC has had a "strategic coordination" agreement with Comunistes de Catalunya since 2024, signed after years of collaboration. In 2023, the Republicans and Izquierda Unida i Alternativa—a party distinct from EUCat, which is part of the Comuns—also ran together in eight metropolitan cities. Beyond these agreements, Tardà is aware of the party leadership's reluctance to consider such operations in Spain and Catalonia, and has therefore called for "convincing" the leadership and the rank and file to be able to debate it this year. "We should all run on the same ticket because, moreover, it would be a prelude to what we should do the following year, in 2028, when the Catalan legislature ends. That is, in the 2028 Catalan elections, repeat the experience," he emphasized. To this end, he said, he has the support of the Ágora Republicana faction, which he described as the "most left-wing" wing of the party.
As parliamentary partners in the PSC government, ERC and Comuns have shown alignment on a vast majority of issues this legislature, such as housing policies, special financing, the transfer of the commuter rail network, and opposition to the expansion of Barcelona airport due to environmental concerns. The only major clash between the two It has been the tourist tax, pending an agreement between the two forces after the Republicans blew up the pact between Comuns and the Government in February to double it. The CUP has only joined the pact on that front. to regulate seasonal rentals and protect social housing.
