On Sunday, Spain goes to the polls for local, regional and European Parliament elections. These polls are being seen as the "second round" of the April 28 Spanish general election – from which a government has yet to be formed.
Current polling shows that Oriol Junqueras, the imprisoned former Vice President of Catalonia, and still leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC); and his former President, Carles Puigdemont (currently living in exile on the outskirts of Brussels) have a high chance of being elected to the European Parliament.
Oriol Junqueras is currently being held in a Madrid jail on charges of rebellion, sedition and misappropriation of public funds relating to his role in the independence referendum for Catalonia in 2017, and could face up to 25 years in prison.
In the independence referendum of October 1st 2017, declared illegal by Spain's Constitutional Court, nearly 90% of Catalan voters backed independence. However, turnout was 43% and there were violent clashes when Spanish national police tried to prevent people voting.
Despite being in prison, the Spanish general election proved successful for Mr Junqueras, as his party nearly doubled its seats in parliament. However, he now faces several hurdles in his bid for a seat in European Parliament as he campaigns via Skype from prison.
But why does Mr Junqueras want to join a union that has not supported him? Post-referendum the European Commission sided with the government in Madrid, and said: “the vote in Catalonia was not legal” and “this is an internal matter for Spain that has to be dealt with in line with the constitutional order of Spain.”
“It is the best way to denounce the repression and democratic regression of the Spanish State. Because it is the best way to defend rights and democracy. They want me silenced and separated. There is nothing more ground-breaking and powerful than to internationalize this cause,” Junqueras says.
Regarding how he would characterise the European Union, Mr Junqueras said: “We are independentists, but federalists regarding Europe. I was myself a member of the European Parliament a few years ago. Although there are many things that we do not like about the current Europe, we feel deeply European. We believe in the foundational values of Europe and we represent the set of forces that will work to recover them.”
On Tuesday, the jailed Catalan MPs who won seats in the Spanish general election, including Mr Junqueras, were briefly allowed out of prison to swear oaths of office at the opening of Congress. Whilst there, Mr Junqueras had the hurried opportunity to speak with the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez – his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party won a plurality of seats at the election, but is in need of coalition partners to form a government.
“I said to him directly in person: we must speak. My party, Republican Left of Catalonia, is the champion of dialogue. We are the ones who always ask to sit down at a table and talk. We are the ones who never leave that table in order to negotiate. Now will not be an exception. It is clear that this situation will only be resolved through a referendum on self-determination and it is clear that what we have to do is find the ways to make it effective.”
But, ahead of the Spanish general election and during his election campaign, Pedro Sanchez said he will act with “strength and proportion” against any attempt by Catalan separatists to repeat their 2017 independence bid. Nevertheless, he potentially needs the support of the Catalan separatist parties.
The ERC is one of the parties that backed Pedro Sánchez's push to oust Mariano Rajoy as prime minister last summer. Rajoy oversaw the Spanish response to the Catalan referendum – where he oversaw the imposition of direct rule over Catalonia and dismissed the Executive Council of Catalonia, thus dissolving the Parliament of Catalonia.
On Friday, four jailed Catalans, including Mr Junqueras, were suspended as MPs.
Meritxell Batet of the Socialist party and the speaker of Congress, explained that the decision to suspend the Catalan politicians was taken on legal advice because Junqueras and his three colleagues are in custody on accusations of rebellion.
If Mr Junqueras wins the European elections, he will as a member of the European Parliament have immunity from prosecution. However, opinion is divided amongst legal and constitutional experts as to whether he is eligible for immunity, and if so, whether it can protect him from prosecution. Mr Junqueras said: “I plan to go to the European Parliament to explain the Spanish repression. I think it will be the first time that a political prisoner will take possession of a seat.”
Mr Junqueras has been imprisoned since November 2nd 2017. He has a wife and two young children.
“Communication with them is difficult, but we try to adapt as we can,” he says
“It is undoubtedly the worst part of the situation. I can’t see my children growing up, I can’t take them to school, bathe them at night or read a book before bedtime. But, luckily, they have their mother and a lot of friends who love them and tell them that their father is a good man.”
While Junqueras and many other leaders stayed behind and faced trial, his former President Carles Puidgemont fled the country; a move that has been criticized by some independence supporters. When asked whether he felt that his former president Carles Puigdemont abandoned him, he said: “Each one takes the decision they felt was most appropriate. I would take the same decision again.”
Both seek seats in the European Parliament in the hope it will allow them to return home – one from exile, the other from prison.
