After the early general elections on November 29, announced this Monday by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, parties are beginning to define their strategy for an electoral event called earlier than expected. In this scenario, Aliança Catalana has confirmed that it will not run in the state elections, maintaining its commitment to focus all its political activity in Catalonia. The organization secretary of the party, Oriol Gès, confirms that the party will not run. He explained in a social media post that the party will not participate in the state elections, a decision that the leader of the party, Sílvia Orriols, had already been anticipating since her time as a candidate in the municipal elections.
“In case anyone doubted it, Aliança Catalana will not run in the elections for the Congress of Spaniards. We are for Catalonia”, Gès concluded, in a message in which he made it clear that the party focuses its strategy exclusively on the Catalan sphere. Despite this renunciation, surveys in recent months place the party in an upward dynamic, both for the municipal elections scheduled for eight months from now and for the Catalan elections, scheduled for two years from now.
Orriols' position regarding Spain has been expressed in a particularly forceful way. In February of this year, the leader of Aliança Catalana and mayor of Ripoll openly admitted, in a message published on social media, that she hates Spain "as a concept." "If they ask me if I hate Spain (as a concept), I answer yes without hesitation," she wrote. She then justified her position by stating that one cannot love "an artificial state built on the remains of your nation" nor accept "the chronic subordination and mistreatment that Catalans suffer."
Junts and Vox, among the parties that could benefit
The decision of Aliança Catalana is, a priori, a breath of fresh air for Carles Puigdemont's party, since all surveys indicate that the party's growth is mainly nourished by Junts' electoral base. The latest barometer from the Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió (CEO) of the Generalitat places Aliança Catalana in third position in hypothetical Catalan elections, with an estimated 23 to 25 seats, very close to ERC, which would obtain between 24 and 26, and ahead of Junts, which would remain between 16 and 18 representatives.
One of the most striking data from the study is the transfer of support towards Sílvia Orriols' party. According to the barometer, 28% of current Junts voters would opt for Aliança Catalana, while the party would also manage to attract 23% of Vox voters. Precisely, the far-right Vox would be the second most favored party by the absence of Aliança Catalana in the general elections, according to the same surveys that have been detecting the rise of Sílvia Orriols' party.
In the same vein as Oriol Gès, the party's deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia, Rosa María Soberana, has also spoken about the decision. A few days ago, Soberana assured that she was wrong to vote against sanctioning the far-right Vox for calling Lluís Companys "murderer." “They say they are holding elections in Spain. When they hold them in Catalonia, let me know,” the deputy ironized, in a response that reinforces the party's position of not entering the state contest.
