Spain's Catalonia To Elect New Leader With Puigdemont Risking Arrest

Barcelona, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Aug, 2024) Catalonia's parliament is set to elect a new leader for the Spanish region on Thursday but the planned return of exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont even though he faces arrest threatens to derail the event.

After months of negotiations following an inconclusive May regional election, the leader of the local branch of Spain's ruling Socialists -- Salvador Illa, who is close to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez -- is poised to become Catalonia's new leader.

The Socialists won the most seats in the election in the wealthy northeastern region without obtaining a majority, but Illa has secured the support of a tiny far-left party and leftist Catalan separatist party ERC.

That would give him the needed 68 votes to be elected in Catalonia's 135-seat parliament as leader of the regional government.

The investiture debate is set to begin in the Catalan parliament at 10:00 am (0800 GMT).

But the vote could be upended if Puigdemont -- who fled to Belgium shortly after Catalonia's failed 2017 independence bid to avoid prosecution -- returns to Spain and is arrested.

The secretary general of Puigdemont's hardline separatist party JxCAT has said he would call for the vote to be suspended if that happens.

If a new Catalan regional government is not formed by August 26, fresh elections will be held in October.

- 'Democratic anomaly' -

In a video posted on social network X on Wednesday, Puigdemont said he had started his "return journey from exile" to attend the vote, saying it should be "normal" for him to be there.

"That to do so risks an arrest that would be arbitrary and illegal is evidence of the democratic anomaly that we have the duty to denounce and fight," he added.

JxCAT announced an "institutional reception" for Puigdemont on Thursday at 9:00 am outside Catalonia's parliament in Barcelona, an hour before the investiture is set to begin.

Puigdemont led the regional government of Catalonia in 2017 when it pushed ahead with an independence referendum despite a court ban, which was followed by a short-lived declaration of independence.

While Spain's parliament in May passed an amnesty law for those involved in the botched secession bid, the Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that the measure would not fully apply to Puigdemont.

Sanchez agreed to the amnesty law in exchange for JxCAT's crucial support in Spain's parliament for his fragile minority government, sparking huge street protests against the measure organised by the right.

- Contested tax deal -

He is now facing opposition from parts of his own Socialist party as well as the right over a proposal to give Catalonia full control of the taxes collected in the region.

The measure was promised the ERC in exchange for the party's support for Illa in Thursday's investiture vote.

The proposal has for decades been one of the main demands of Catalan independence parties but critics argue it would deprive the central state of a substantial source of revenue. It still must be approved by Spain's national parliament.

A similar system already exists in Spain's northern Basque Country, which also has an active independence movement.

If Illa passes Thursday's investiture vote, he will be the first head of Catalonia's regional government who does not come from the separatist camp since 2010.

The former health minister has defended the tax agreement made with the ERC, saying they are "in favour of all Catalans".

"They are agreements to improve our financing without harming anyone and maintaining criteria of solidarity," he said Saturday after he secured the ERC's support.

But former Socialist deputy prime minister Alfonso Guerra has warned the tax agreement opens "a path towards a Federal system and the independence of Catalonia".