The party in charge of Esquerra Republicana is definitely launched and its former president Oriol Junqueras confirmed himself this afternoon as the most serious contender by filling a room of 1,500 people in Olesa de Montserrat (Barcelona) almost to capacity. Your candidacy team specifies that your project, grouped under the platform Militancy Decidedis the one that enjoys the majority support of the activists, which will not be known until November 30, when the extraordinary party congress will be held to elect the new leadership.
However, today’s demonstration in Olesa – some 1,500 participants out of 8,300 members – sent a resounding message that Junqueras does not intend to give up the race, as the other candidates presented have demanded, who carry the message of leadership renewal. In Olesa, and before an audience that cheered him with the cry of “president”, Junqueras not only showed himself to be the most serious candidate, but he also launched a very harsh attack, although without mentioning her, against the current secretary general, Marta Rovira. He accused her and her team of having formed a kind of parallel leadership outside the governing bodies, of “betray the principles” of the party and having “shamed” them, in reference to the denigrating posters against the Maragall brothers. Junqueras’ strategy, it became clear yesterday, is to avoid any responsibility for the previous stage, including the latest electoral setbacks, and due to the harshness used yesterday, it is clear that convergence with the other candidates is impossible. The accident is inevitable.
This afternoon it was important to gauge Junqueras’ tone, surprisingly harsh for what is usual for him, but also for his ability to summon. He has certainly dealt a hard blow to his rivals. He has three candidates in front of him, but only the one defined as “rovirista”, due to the implicit support of the current secretary general, Marta Rovirahas real possibilities. This group, which was formed only to prevent Junqueras from repeating himself, defends that a renewal at the top is necessary and has the disadvantage that its visible leader, the former mayor of Vilassar de Dalt (Barcelona) Xavier Godàs, is barely known. . In fact, the candidacy he leads, Nova Esquerra Nacional, started without a visible head until this week.
In addition to Godàs, former deputies and councilors of the Generalitat have announced their intention to attend the congress. Alfred Bosch and the Primer d’Octubre collective, although it is doubtful that the latter will be able to gather the necessary guarantees. Both, as well as Bosch, advocate, in addition to the arrival of new leaders, a strategic change aimed at putting an end to the policy of approach of the CPS and the PSOE. On the other hand, the two candidates with the most possibilities, Junqueras and Godàs, do not question this line of action, although there are nuances. Although Junqueras was the ideologue of this strategy and the current leadership led by Rovira is the one that made the pact to invest Salvador Illa, the candidate of the renewal affirms that among his ranks there are defenders and detractors of the agreement – ensuring that his platform is the one that more resembles a party that voted divided on the pact – while in the party of the former president they are monolithic.
What is confirmed after today’s event is that the possibility of a confluence of candidates that would prevent the November congress from being conflictual is now impossible. First, because the Rovirista candidacy requires for any agreement that Junqueras does not have executive responsibilities in the next leadership, and secondly because this one, which seems strong, is even stronger after the full of todaydoes not plan to step back, as they explain to ABC from their entourage. While some accuse Junqueras of personal stubbornness, the presidential candidate accuses them of exactly the same thing, that is, of bringing the debate to a precisely personal level.
Today, in an interview with the newspaper ‘Ara’, Xavier Godas ruled out any agreement with Junqueras, while his deputy, Alba Camps, insisted that his candidacy advocates an ERC with “much more democracy, with shared decision-making, a much more collective project and above all knowing who decides.” A way of contrasting their program with the excess of personalism that they attribute to Junqueras.
What is clear is that the appearance of a reliable and united party that Esquerra had given in the last stage was destroyed when the electoral results were bad. The May elections not only won Presidency of the Generalitat but inner peace. Episodes such as the denigrating posters against the Maragall brothers, coming from the ranks of the party, have brought to light an internal structure “B” to carry out unconventional actions, practices for which no one is now responsible. Junqueras accuses Rovira, while the entourage of the general secretary assures that the former was aware.
The ERC Secretary General, Marta Rovira, alluded to this yesterday, insisting during her speech at the National Council of the party to take advantage of the November congress to renew not only the leadership but also the ways of operating. “We must also rethink ourselves in the face of the blunders, the ethical and moral failures that our organization has committed and in the face of internal protocols and processes that have not finished placing us, even today, in the place where we should be. as ERC.” They have a lot of work ahead of them.
