Junqueras, Mas’ road maps in face-off: the president’s list vs the list of lists

The die is cast. Catalan president Artur Mas revealed his road map last week, as ERC leader Oriol Junqueras did on Tuesday. Will there be an agreement to call plebiscitary snap elections? So far Mas and Junqueras have advocated two paths that differ in pace and formula. Their differences can be seen in the proposed format of the candidacy but also in their respective road maps. In fact, last Wednesday CiU spokesman Jordi Turull stated on ARA Bassas that “the differences are big, but they needn’t be unsurmountable”.

A single, unified list or separate candidacies

The Catalan president would like to see a unified candidacy for independence. He believes that a joint candidacy would be necessary to obtain an absolute majority in a plebiscitary election in lieu of the independence referendum that Spain didn’t allow. Artur Mas is certain that this formula would send a loud and clear message to the international community. His list would be devoid of party names and would include prestigious professionals and individuals from civil society. However, ERC’s Junqueras is adamant that the best way to represent the diversity of Catalan society and obtain the most votes for independence is to run several candidacies in tandem and under a common umbrella, showing the names of the political parties. According to Junqueras, the candidacies could share part of a name, they could have a common vow in their manifesto, hold rallies together and include “relevant, non-partisan” people who could act as a “joint” between them. Following the elections, a “broad-base” coalition government would be formed.

Negotiating or exercising independence from the very start

After winning the elections, the path devised by Mas suggests the start of formal negotiations to determine the “conditions” for the foundation of the new Catalan state. Depending on the president, this would be a short term in office: no longer than eighteen months after the new Parliament has elected the president. In contrast, Junqueras believes that there is nothing to negotiate with Spain and, therefore, Catalonia must act as an independent nation from day one. ERC rejects the eighteen month period of negotiations that Mas has suggested because it doesn’t believe it has any chance of success. Rather than declaring independence, Junqueras thinks that it is more important to exercise it in practice. At any rate, the new government --a broad-base coalition, in Junqueras’ own words-- would need to pass a bill of judicial transitoriness stating that all Spanish laws would remain in place until superseded by new ones.

Either constituent elections in 2016 or building the new state while a constituent process is in progress

The road map of the Catalan president outlines the jobs that the new Parliament should undertake after a plebiscitary election in order to become an independent nation. Mas believes that the next step should be a citizens’ participatory process over an 18-month period to prepare the ground for a future Constitution that would be voted in the following term. At the end of this period, the Parliament and the government would seek new elections in Catalonia --which now would have a constituent nature-- and would call a referendum so that the people can decide on the proclamation of the new state. Nevertheless, Junqueras proposes that the foundations of the new state are built while the constituent process is underway. Once the Constitution is written following a participatory process, it would be voted in a referendum. This vote would also confirm the pro-independence majority, but not independence itself, unlike the second elections that Mas proposes. “There is no need for us to ratify independence twice; no other country in the world has ever had to”, Junqueras stated last Tuesday.