All eyes have been on Junts. Those of Jordi Turull and Laura Borràs have the key to governance and investiture in the next legislature, but in the post-convergent formation they already conspired in their first evaluation of the elections to "hold the position" and not invest Pedro Sánchez "in exchange for nothing". This Monday, along the same lines, after bringing together the management for a first analysis of the elections, JxCat placed the ball in the court of the acting President of the Government and reiterated that if there is negotiation they want to address self-determination and amnesty.
"I don't see the investiture anywhere right now," said Turull, general secretary, first thing in the morning at the RAC1 microphones. The sovereignist leader appealed to his former partner in the Government, Esquerra, to take advantage of the "window of opportunity" that, in his opinion, the results represent.
“Our votes will be at the service of resolving the political conflict that exists between the State and Catalonia. We will not enter into a debate on a list of things and little things that do not help at all to resolve the political conflict”, added the leader.
Thus, the general secretary of JxCat called on the Republicans to "remake strategic unity" and together propose conditions to Sánchez that include obtaining amnesty and the possibility of holding a consultation.
The party's spokesman and vice-president, Josep Rius, was more specific and reiterated the request that Junts has been formulating to ERC in the last two years: A common sovereignist front in Madrid and the creation of a space for coordination of the independence movement with parties and entities. Two aspects that those of Oriol Junqueras have always dismissed.
When asked if it is possible to assume the investiture without achieving the two objectives that have been set – self-determination and amnesty – Rius pointed out that they will be “very attentive” to what Sánchez says to get their support and to convince them. "The ball is in his court, Mr. Sánchez has been avoiding this issue for a long time and there has been no proposal to try to unblock the political conflict," the spokesman assessed. “It has become clear that against Catalonia you cannot govern”, he concluded.
Carles Puigdemont, for his part, asked if people use the expression "Fer Pasqua abans de Rams" (Selling the bear's skin before hunting it). He said it after Sumar appointed the former deputy of the commons Jaume Asens to negotiate with the independence movement. However, the post-convergents assure that for now they have not received any official communication from the socialists, Sumar or the commons.
With these elements, the official and public discourse of the formation follows this course, but there is no monolithic position, since there are those who consider that it is necessary to negotiate with the socialists on more concrete, tangible and viable issues, and to have the capacity to influence and obtain revenues in the next four years. In the campaign, in this line, ex-president Artur Mas spoke, for example, who asked for the maximum possible resources for Catalonia through negotiation.
But various cadres of the formation consulted confirm that the party is willing to maintain a pulse and if it is necessary that there be an electoral repetition. A member of the executive already predicted shortly after knowing the results that this would be the outcome. Demòcrates de Catalunya, a formation that competes in alliance with Junts, pronounced itself in this way: "Self-determination and amnesty or second round", they pointed out this Monday from Toni Castellà's party. "Binding referendum or new elections", asserted Joan Canadell, deputy of Parliament and member of the leadership.
But beyond that first reading, in the post-convergent training there was also this Monday who considered that it is necessary to carry out a calm analysis of the data. ERC, compared to 2019, lost 411,976 votes on Sunday. JxCat also falls, but much less, as 137,591 voters were left behind – the PDECat added 31,687 ballots. These numbers indicate that JxCat does not capitalize on the loss of its ex-partner. To this must be added the factor of the municipal elections on May 28, in which the same dynamic occurred: a setback of the pro-independence forces, although Junts held up the ballot much better in that case, losing less than 6,000 votes compared to the local elections four years ago to more than 300,000 Republicans.
Thus, in the general polls on Sunday there were around 666,000 pro-independence ballots less than in 2019 – accounting for PDECat as a sovereignist formation.
Although the dynamics are different in general and municipal ones, if the difference in votes between May 28 and July 23 is compared, the post-convergents lose more than 160,000 voters.
Someone who knows the gears and the Junts machine room first-hand opined a few days ago that as always, more or less, they save face at the polls –this time being decisive has value–, they never finish making a true journey through the desert that allows them to rethink strategies.
