CATALAN MPs are expected to vote on a bid for the presidency by Pere Aragones, who has effectively held the role for the past six months since Quim Torra was disqualified by Spain.
Parliament speaker Laura Borras met party leaders earlier this week and confirmed that Aragones – from the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) – was the candidate most likely to succeed.
However, politics is never straightforward in Catalonia, and the presidency is no different – ERC was yesterday still in negotiations with Together for Catalonia (JxCat) to repeat their alliance from the last parliament, but with them as the lead partner.
Such a deal also required the backing of the nine MPs from the far-left CUP – they and ERC have a total of 42 seats between them and need 68 in the 135-seat chamber for Aragones to secure the presidency.
The CUP’s nine MPs yesterday signalled that they would support the Aragones bid, but they said they believed the agreement could be improved in line with soundings taken from regular meetings with grass-roots supporters.
CUP MP Eulalia Reguant said: “This agreement does not have the depth to address the needs of the country and we believe that we should go further.
“Together we have a responsibility to join this agreement if we want to serve the country.”
She said there were specific points in the ERC deal which she considered were “too soft”, but CUP were prepared to concede an evaluation period of two years.
Votes from JxCat – which is led from Belgium by exiled former president Carles Puigdemont – are also needed before Aragones can become president, and their general secretary Jordi Sanchez said earlier this week: “Nothing prevents us from reaching a deal in the coming days or weeks.”
However, Meritxell Budo, a JxCat MP, cautioned the pro-indy parties to take their time before striking a deal: “How long it takes to reach an agreement is not as important as that it is a good one.”
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