The acting head of government of the Spanish Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Pere Aragones, decided to give up his seat in parliament after his party, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), worsened its position following the results of early regional elections.
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Yesterday, more than 5.5 million Catalans elected the region’s 135 members of parliament. They, in turn, will have to nominate a candidate for the post of head of government of the autonomous community.
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“Guided by a sense of responsibility to the country and the party of the Republican Left, today I informed the ERC that I will not take up my seat as a member of parliament and will leave the political front line. I begin a new phase with the same commitment, helping the country I love, for a fair and independent Catalonia “, the politician wrote on his page on the social network X on Monday.
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For this reason, he said that over the coming weeks he will facilitate the transition process – both in the current government until the election of a new head of parliament, and in the leadership of the ERC.
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After the votes were counted, the Socialist Party of Catalonia, which supports Spanish unity, leads with 42 seats in the 135-seat parliament. In turn, the two main pro-independence parties, Junts per Catalunya and ERC, received 35 and 20 seats respectively. The right-wing People’s Party won 15 seats, and the far-right Vox party won 11.
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Thus, no party in parliament received enough seats to have enough votes to elect a new head of the regional government. As a result, the parties will begin negotiations to create a coalition to form a cabinet of ministers for the region.
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In March, the head of the government of the Aragones region announced the convening of early elections due to the fact that the Catalan parliament rejected the 2024 budget. For this reason, he did not wait until 2025, when elections were due to take place.
