Rufián will be the candidate of ERC but will also campaign with Podemos in the State

BarcelonaAfter a week of negotiations, ERC has confirmed that Gabriel Rufián will be the party's candidate in the upcoming general elections. It did so in a statement in which it announced that he will be the number one on the republicans' list for Barcelona. According to Rufián's circle, he has reached an understanding with Podem so that the purple party "does not run in Catalonia" and asks for the vote for ERC, something that sources from Oriol Junqueras' party leadership confirm.

How will it be implemented? Sources from the republican leadership confirm that the pact is based on Podem not having its own list in Catalonia and on Rufián participating in a support event for Irene Montero in the State. The fine print of the agreement will be known in the coming days and, for now, it is not clear if there will be any common points in the programs and if Podem will have any candidate on the ERC list for Barcelona. The same sources close to Rufián assure that the ERC list "is an open front to whoever wants it," although the leadership is clear that the understanding is valid as long as there is no electoral competition. That is to say, that Podem does not run throughout Spain with Front Ampli, which does want to run in Catalonia, something that would lead to electoral conflict.

A significant element assumed by both parties is that Rufián "will campaign outside of Catalonia" alongside Montero. According to some sources, the purple candidate would also come to campaign for ERC in Barcelona. It is the first time that the candidate of an independence party has campaigned outside of the Principality –not taking into account the alliances that the republicans have with other sovereignist left-wing formations such as EH Bildu in the Senate– and for a party to the left of the PSOE. Rufián's decision puts pressure on the parties that are trying to constitute the Front Ampli –Moviment Sumar, Comuns, Més Madrid, and Esquerra Unida– because Ada Colau, the person who has shown herself willing to lead it, made a call on Friday for the republican leader to join her coalition. An alliance that Podem, which is now joining forces with Rufián, is not willing to enter.

The decision of the candidacy led by the leader from Santa Coloma was formalized this Sunday at a meeting of the party's national executive, and it was reached at the last minute: the deadline to submit the candidacy ended at six in the afternoon. "Over the next few days, the details of the candidacy will be finalized with the holding of the different regional congresses," say sources from the party. On October 20, a meeting of the party's various internal bodies is scheduled to approve the candidacies for both the Senate and the Congress.

Rufián has been calling for "unity" from the parties to the left of the PSOE for months and had bet on a broad front of all the left-wing parties. However, all the sovereignist left-wing formations had closed the door on him. His acts with Irene Montero, leaders of Més Madrid such as Emilio Delgado or Mónica Oltra, from Compromís, already stirred an internal debate that Junqueras had always resolved by making it clear that his party would run alone: "I went to prison for Catalonia, not so that Colau would be a deputy on an ERC list," he went as far as saying. Words that Rufián himself saw as an "error," as he said in an interview with La Sexta.

Sources from the Comuns assure that they respect "Gabriel Rufián's decision to continue under the ERC acronym," but regret "that he did not want to participate in the construction of a broad left-wing Front to maximize the options of stopping and defeating the right again, as was already done in 2023." "We, the Comuns, remain committed and actively working for the articulation of a broad state-level Front that responds to the will for unity repeatedly expressed by the citizenry," they conclude.

Tensions in the parliamentary group

The parliamentary spokesperson in the capital of Spain has seen how his group in Congress was left shattered by a division that has been worsening every week, just as ARA has already explained, with a broken relationship between the majority of the until now deputies and Rufián. After the November 29th call, Pilar Vallugera and Jordi Salvador announced that they would not repeat without making any public acknowledgment to their spokesperson. In fact, Salvador had openly criticized Rufián following his calls for a broad front.

One of Rufián's requests was to have a trusted team with people who were closer to him. However, the leadership reminded him that the lists are made with the candidates who present themselves in each territorial area. To begin with, in Girona, Teresa Jordà, distanced from Rufián, has presented herself to lead the lists, but she will have an opponent, the until now deputy Etna Estrems, who is indeed a Junquerista. For this reason, primaries will be held on October 17th. Regarding the rest of the lists for Congress, ERC has detailed that in Tarragona and Lleida they will be headed by the Junqueristas Norma Pujol and Inés Granollers respectively. The rest of the candidates will be chosen in the territorial congresses that will take place starting this Monday.

Francesc-Marc Álvaro, number one for the Senate

The hitherto ERC deputy Francesc-Marc Álvaro will be the head of the Republicans' list for the Senate, according to a statement made public this Sunday. The journalist born in Vilanova i la Geltrú was number three on the 23-J candidacy, following the electoral ticket headed by Gabriel Rufián and Teresa Jordà. Álvaro has been the spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs committee, the Defense committee, the Interior committee, the Culture committee, the Constitutional committee, and the RTVE control committee.

The hitherto deputy in Congress has become a trusted person for Junqueras and in recent months has promoted, together with deputy Carles Campuzano, Esquerra Democràtica, a centrist space that seeks to ally with ERC. However, he is far from Rufián and his approach. Furthermore, the hitherto senator Joan Queralt —who supported the candidacy of those critical of Junqueras in the congress two years ago— has renounced running for the upper house, a few days after making public that he did want to run.