Spanish elections with Junqueras and Puigdemont?

BarcelonaLet me start by saying that this article is speculation. But speculation based on a real foundation, and that is that right now ERC has a problem with its leader in Madrid, Gabriel Rufián, and Junts has one with its absolute leader, Carles Puigdemont, about whom there is currently no consensus on what his future should be once the amnesty is applied, in principle in the autumn, and he definitively returns to Catalonia. Furthermore, there is a strong possibility that the Spanish elections will be the next to be held, as Pedro Sánchez could use the rejection of the budgets as leverage to confront two models of country. And this would place them around February or March, before the municipal elections in May.

In Junts, there are growing doubts about the advisability of making Carles Puigdemont their candidate for the Generalitat, which would in principle be his natural destiny after exile. This is because the electoral prospects are not good and the risk of burning out a leader who is not just a leader, but a symbol and an emblem, is very high. The possibility of Puigdemont being surpassed in the elections by Salvador Illa and Sílvia Orriols (not to mention Oriol Junqueras), makes more than one Junts member shudder. It would be the saddest end for a politician who has paid a very high price to move forward with the 1-O.

For this reason, reserving him for the Spanish elections, in which Aliança Catalana will not compete and there is not so much pressure to come first, would be a plausible solution. It would give Puigdemont high visibility and his mere presence in the heart of the State would be a powerful message in itself. This would perhaps involve transferring Miriam Nogueras, a brilliant star with an ideal profile for a head-to-head with Orriols, to Catalonia.

Tandem with Rufián?

In Junqueras's case, his candidacy would magically undo all the mess caused by Rufián around the Spanish left-wing front. A possible Junqueras-Rufián tandem would undoubtedly be a candidacy of a broader independentist spectrum and, moreover, would allow the ERC president to have a prime loudspeaker, the Congress tribune, to prepare his assault on the Generalitat. However, remember that all this is just speculation, eh?

The details

The fire in Les Gavarres, in Empordà, has provoked a strange political unanimity, as this weekend politicians from all parties have been seen tweeting their regret about this disaster. For example, the CUP deputy Dani Cornellà, the Vox deputy in Congress Carina Mejías, and the PP deputy for the Girona regions Jaume Veray wrote about it.

We already know that Pedro Sánchez is an expert at annoying the Spanish right wing, but there is one thing that makes them particularly nervous, and that is making videos about light topics when Madrid is a political pressure cooker. Last week he made one with tips to combat the heat, and on Friday another about how to follow the eclipse predicted for August. The fatxosfera was boiling.