JxCat and ERC already assume elections on the 14-F and call for the mobilization of independence movement to beat Illa

JxCat launches campaign for postal vote and rules out a new decree or appeal from the Government

Núria Orriols / Xavi Tedó
3 min
Imatge d’un col·legi electoral a les primeres eleccions espanyoles del 2019, que es van celebrar el 28 d’abril.

BarcelonaDespite the uncertainty about whether the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC ) will maintain elections on the 14th of February, JxCat and ERC have already assumed the electoral date on Friday.

The spokesperson of JxCat, Elsa Artadi, has assumed the initially foreseen appointment with the ballot boxes. In her opinion, the Generalitat, which decided to postpone the elections with the support of the parties because of the risk posed by the rise of the pandemic, has no more room for manoeuvre than what the court says, and has ruled out a new decree postponing the elections in order to avoid a challenge or an appeal to the High Court once it issues its ruling.

"We are waiting for what the High Court will say, but at this point we have to finish the soap opera of the elections and have everyone activated on 14 February", she said, and announced a campaign to encourage postal voting and called for the independence movement to go to the polls to "confront the state operation" that Salvador Illa wants to carry out, according to Artadi. "In Catalonia it is the citizens who are in charge and not the PSOE", the spokesperson said, who added that Illa "should have to resign not because he is a candidate for the elections, but because he is the worst manager of the pandemic in Europe".

Elsa Artadi: “Després de les eleccions estarem obligats a entendre’ns”

The General Secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, also spoke on the same subject in an interview with Catalunya Ràdio radio station. She has taken it for granted that the elections will be held on 14 February: "We have no alternative, we have to accept it".

From Switzerland, Rovira has called for independence to be organised and to give "confidence and security" to citizens. The exiled leader has denounced a "state manoeuvre" by the PSC and the PSOE to impose the date and win the elections: "You can see them coming, what they [the socialists] want is to win" she said.

La secretària general d'ERC, Marta Rovira, a Ginebra / ACN

Despite the fact that yesterday the Government said that it would fight for the postponement to take place -that is what the vice-president, Pere Aragonès, said in parliament-, Junts and Esquerra have ruled out the possibility of doing anything else before the High Court pronounces itself to try to avoid the elections: "This is not about whether a decree is well done or not. All this is a farce - Artadi said-, the Spanish justice has decided to vote on 14-F and they do not care what you do".

Darts between partners

However, in spite of agreeing on the appeal, JxCat and Esquerra have not spared the poisoned darts on Friday. When asked if the elections will be safe, Artadi has avoided to value the protocol prepared by the Government nor if it has to be revised, taking into account that to postpone the 14-F they assured that the measures taken were not enough to guarantee free and equal elections. "We have followed the recommendations of the health authorities", Artadi said, referring to the health reports that recommended postponing the elections, adding that it is the Foreign Affairs Department who is responsible for organising the elections, distancing itself from the ERC Ministries.

Esquerra also had some words for their partners. Marta Rovira has criticised the fact that the Republicans are accused of wanting to govern with the PSC, and has attributed it to a "campaign of attrition, empty of content" by JxCat.

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