The 27-S Yes ticket: what we know and what unknowns remain

BarcelonaWhere do we stand with the preparation of the independence list Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) that is being negotiated among CDC, ERC, and the grassroots groups? Every day we are finding out about new members of the broad-based candidacy, and the lists already have leaders in Barcelona, Girona, and Tarragona, and are waiting for an agreement on Lleida’s. Raül Romeva will head the list in the main Catalan constituency (Barcelona), while singer-songwriter Lluís Llach (1) will do so in Girona. In Tarragona, the parties and organizations have opted for economist Germà Bel. This is the situation at present:

Barcelona

We have known since Wednesday 15 July that Romeva, former European MP for ICV, will head the list for Junts pel Sí in the Barcelona region. He will be accompanied by --in the second and third slots-- Carme Forcadell, former president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), and Muriel Casals, former president of Òmnium Cultural. Following these three are Artur Mas --candidate for President of the Generalitat, according to an agreement in writing-- and Oriol Junqueras, president of ERC.

Numbers six and seven on the list, as agreed by CDC and ERC, will go to independent names. The sixth position will be held by Eduardo Reyes, president of Súmate, an organization that brings together Spanish speakers who are in favor of independence. Gabriel Rufián, member of Súmate and of the board of the ANC, also has support to appear on the list. Number seven will be economist Oriol Amat, as confirmed by Romeva in an interview on BTV. From here, starting with number eight, the positions will be designated directly by the political parties.

On Saturday ERC will approve the names of their own candidates, and CDC will do so on 30 July in a national council. In the CDC slots will be spaces ceded to Demòcrates de Catalunya (DC), the pro-independence faction that split off from Unió Democràtica (UDC). In the positions reserved for ERC there will be representatives of Moviment d’Esquerres (MES), which participated in the negotiations to reach an agreement.

Fabián Mohedano (Avancem) will be on the Barcelona ticket, whose final slot will be held by Pep Guardiola.

Girona

It had been rumoured for days and now it has finally been confirmed: Lluís Llach will head the list of Junts pel Sí in Girona. The number two in the constituency --as is the case in Lleida and Tarragona-- will be an independent candidate yet to be confirmed. One of the interesting developments in the next few days will be in Convergència (CDC), where Santi Vila and Carles Puigdemont are battling to be the first CDC name on the Girona list.

Tarragona

Germà Bel will head the list for Junts pel Sí in Tarragona. The economist, who was an MP for the PSC in the Spanish parliament at the beginning of the last decade, was one of the names on the table to lead a joint CDC and ERC list in the 2014 European elections, which eventually didn’t come to fruition.

Lleida

This is the only region that has not picked a name to head the list yet. Taking into account that the rest of the candidates are men, it is likely that a woman will be chosen to lead the Lleida ticket. One of the names being mentioned is Rosa Eritja, the current president of the Retailers Association of Lleida.

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(1) N.T. Lluís Llach is a Catalan singer-songwriter, novelist and wine-maker who was one of the main representatives of Nova Cançó (New Song), a movement of Catalan musicians and singers who defied the Franco dictatorship by singing political protest songs in Catalan at a time when the language was prohibited. He lived for a time in voluntary exile in Paris, until the death of the dictator in 1975. While mostly retired, he remains very popular in Catalonia.