Puigdemont will be the symbolic leader of JxCat's list on 14-F elections

BarcelonaAfter announcing that he will not be the candidate of JxCat for the Generalitat, former president Carles Puigdemont has revealed this Wednesday what his position will be in the elections' list of February 14th. In a video recorded from Waterloo, Puigdemont has announced that he will be the number one for Barcelona in a symbolic way, as the president will be Laura Borràs. "I want to help her to be the first president of Catalonia. I will propose to the government of JxCat to head the list for Barcelona", the ex-president expressed, a will that will be ratified soon by the management, as they had asked him to run for this position.

Puigdemont made the video accompanied by the presidential candidate, who travelled to Belgium to meet the former president and analyse how to deal with the pre-campaign of the 14th of February. "It's a huge responsibility", Borràs said, showing the tandem that Junts will exploit from now until the 14 February elections. With Puigdemont's bet and the current Parliamentary leader, JxCat intends to repeat the comeback of December 21, 2017: Puigdemont was behind Esquerra in the polls and ended up ahead (with 34 MPs to the 32 of the Republicans), placing itself as the first force within the sovereignty - Ciudadanos was the most voted party.

Puigdemont's message already indicates what the axes of the election campaign will be: he wants to present JxCat as a party capable of managing the current situation and at the same time "committed to the Catalan Republic", although he does not specify what his road map to achieve it is. "The victory of JxCat is the guarantee of governing without complexes with the maximum demand and determination before the State [...]. And to guarantee a government committed to the 1-O that builds sovereignty and deconstructs dependency"m he said in the video. Puigdemont also added that he wants to recover "the strategic unity" of independence, despite the lack of understanding of this legislature and the distance of the current approach from Esquerra, which is committed to broadening the base, dialogue and participation in State governance.

Completing the lists

Puigdemont's role was one of the questions that remained to be clarified in Junts after the primaries to elect the president and the starting positions in Barcelona, Lleida, Girona and Tarragona were completed. The militancy chose Borràs as a candidate by a large majority and, in the second round of primaries, the most voted was the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Joan Canadell, followed by the spokesperson and vice president of the party, Elsa Artadi. In recent weeks the possibility has been on the table for the former president to head Barcelona (as it has ended up happening); be the number two of Borràs, or be the head of the list for Girona. After this announcement, the management will finish closing the whole candidacy and will submit it to militancy vote next week.