The extinction of the sentence of disqualification from holding public office that weighed on five of those convicted by the process and 1-O, after the interpretation of the Supreme Court of the reform of the Penal Code, will not imply their return to institutional politics. . for now.
Joaquim Forn, Carme Forcadell and Jordi Cuixart have already categorically ruled out appearing as candidates in the electoral cycle that will start next May with the municipal elections, and that will continue in the next twelve months, at least, with the general elections and the European ones. Jordi Sànchez and Josep Rull, to this day, avoid commenting on their plans for now.
Shortly before being pardoned, Forn, former Minister of the Interior, had already stated that he was not contemplating returning to the front line of fire and ruled out joining Xavier Trias' candidacy for mayor of Barcelona, although he could symbolically close the list.
Cuixart, who while in prison continued to lead Òmnium Cultural, handed over the baton as president of the entity a year ago to Xavier Antich, and invited the rest of the pro-independence political leaders of the autumn of 2017 to do the same in their respective organizations. He asked for new leadership and now he resides in Switzerland, temporarily, focused on his private and business activity.
In turn, Forcadell, former president of Parliament, stated on Tuesday on Ràdio 4 and La 2 that "at the moment she does not feel like" returning to the institutions and has stated that "she has other interests." "In addition, I understand that politics can be done from other sites" and other entities, added Forcadell, linked to ERC.
Sànchez, for his part, stopped being the General Secretary of Junts in the summer and since then has remained linked to the party as leader of the associated think tank Crida Nacional per la República, on a discreet level, and considers that this is not the time to rule on the future and its role in institutional politics. Asked what options he is considering, he points out that he has to focus on the appeals to the Supreme Court's decision and his strategy to take the case to the European courts. Later it will be seen.
In a similar vein, Rull, who has been president of the JxCat national council since last July, has avoided getting wet in an interview on RAC1 –he has said that it would be “frivolous” to talk about “personal visions”–, although there are those who included in the pools to be the candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat in the near future.
In any case, in the post-convergent formation no movements are expected to look for candidates until at least after the municipal elections next May -for that appointment they already have the quota covered-, especially taking into account that in the Catalan electoral horizon there is no Parliamentary elections are expected at least until next spring after the Government's budget pact with the PSC and the commons, an agreement that gives oxygen to Pere Aragonès to try to exhaust the legislature despite having a minority Executive. This circumstance makes it possible to postpone the debate on the candidates and focus efforts on the municipal race.
There is a paradox that those convicted of 1-O who are still more active in politics, the president of Esquerra Republicana, Oriol Junqueras, and the general secretary of Junts per Catalunya, Jordi Turull, are still disabled, waiting for what be resolved in the appeals that will be presented to the Constitutional Court, until 2030 and 2031 respectively.
Be that as it may, in politics, closing the door today does not mean that tomorrow will be like that...
