republicans are key.

international | politics / elections | news report

Monday November 17, 2003 12:06

by iosaf mac diarmada

the Catalan Reublican Party holds the key to the Catalan Government after yesterday's elections.

There will be a coalition. No party has won enough to govern alone. The majority of votes passed went to the Left. The ERC esquera republican catalan, left republican catalan independence party has won 23 seats and is key.

The final results show:

ERC - Catalan Republican Left Independence.
23 seats. up 11 @ 16.47% of votes cast.

ICV-EUIA Green marxist Socialist alliance (fraternal links with ireland's swp)
9 seats. up 6 2 7.30% of votes cast.

PSC- Catalan version of PSOE Spain's "labour party"
42 seats. down 10 @ 31.17% of votes cast.

CiU- ruling centre right party regionalist conservative.
46 seats down 10 @ 30.93% of votes cast.

PP- catalan branch of Aznar's PP.
15 seats up 3 @ 11.87% of votes cast.

So left wing parties ranging from centre to marxist leninist with ecological and nationalist agenda have accomplished 54.95% of votes. 74seats.
The Right have achieved 42% of votes 61 seats.

The last ditch electioneering pitched the PSC "labour equivalent" guaranteeing housing solutions and combating speculation to the Right wing's combined thrust for older votes with promises of increased pensions and security.

The parties have till December to sign their pacts and make a government, but Josep Lluís Carod-Rovira leader of the ERC is most certainly the man who will decide the next government. Carod-Rovira who served a lengthy prison sentance for being a republican independentist during the Franco era declared last night to supporters cries of "Independence!" that a coalition with the CiU is unthinkable whilst they are so clearly associated with the PP of Aznar in Madrid.

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Other news from Spain, 150,000 people gathered for the first anniversary of the Prestige oil tanker disaster. Nunca Mais! is now a year old and saw many thousands of volunteers who came to together to clean over a thousand kilometres of beaches of Europe's worst ecological disaster in recent history coem together to remember and repeat Nunca Mais! Never Again!

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The occupied autonomous arts centre Les Naus,
http://sindominio.net/lesnaus/ has yet not been evicted, though it's order was signed for over two weeks ago. It was felt that the bailiffs had been held back due to the elections. The collective had previously written to the local political representatives who are ERC, it now remains to be seen how the victory of the ERC may best be enjoyed by the relationship shared by the Left in Barçelona and Catalonia in general.
More people opted to vote this time than at any Catalan election since the 1920s, but of those who did not vote, their opinion is clear, and will continue to enjoy influence.

-I'll update the results as comments in the future.
link to Spain's local election results last May.
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=50048