I would like to start introducing the candidates to you, and at the same time I will say something of their paries, to let you know... them. In a future post you can find how did the debate go, and a personal view of the politeness of our political class. I must warn you that this is going to be a long and non funny post... I hope that I’ll keep your interest somehow, or that you are going to read me in the future!
The candidates are organized in order of members in the current parliament: CiU (46), PSC-CPC (42), ERC (23), PPC (15), ICV-EUA (9). Let’s remember that CiU has been in the government for 23 years, from 1980 to 2003 with the President Jordi Pujol i Soley. From 2003 to 2006 the government was composed by PSC, ERC and ICV-EUA and dissolved last May (if I remember it correctly), and the President has been Pasqual Maragall i Mira from PSC-CPC.
Convergència i Unió: Artur Mas i Gavarró.
This is a Catalan and nationalist party; actually is the addition of two parties: Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya and Unió Democràtica de Catalunya. Convergència is the bigger one, and Unió (self called demo-cristians) the smaller. If you ask them, they are a centre party; if you ask the average people, they are a centre-right party, if you ask to ICV-EUA they are a right-right party. Anyway, they are not a communist party and they are Catalan nationalist. But, they have been having pacts and agreements with PP (and you’ll know after a while that this is... shocking).
The candidate was really rude during the debate (only the PP candidate was ruder) and treating all the others with condescension. He is arrogant, big headed and completely confident that he is going to win. The statistics are saying that he is going to win. They won the last elections but not with enough people in the parliament, and if we follow the statistics, they are going to have better results than the last time.
Partit Socialista de Catalunya – Ciutadans pel Canvi: José Montilla y Aguilera.
This is the Catalan part of the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español). They are independant of PSOE, but they are not, but they are, but they are not. Ask them if you didn’t get that. They say that they are “catalanistes” but they want a federal vision of Spain. Everything is a bit blurry because inside the PSOE there are some people fighting for the rights of the Catalans, and some people who really want to fuck the Catalans in the ass. Then... what is the PSC saying when receiving attacks from PSOE, considering that they are the same party but not?
The candidate was really polite, really silent, almost hypnotic. Charisma is not the word that comes to your mind looking at him. He was born in the south of Spain and moved to Catalonia several years ago. He has been the mayor of Cornellà and speaks Catalan. He doesn’t have the C-level of Catalan that is asked to work for the government, and he wants to be the president. Where is the problem? Ask to the other parties then!
Note: the look-alike-guy is a famous Catalan humorist.
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya: Josep Lluís Carod-Rovira.
The name of the party comes from lots of years ago... Esquerra means left in Catalan, but there is the doubt about the name... they doesn’t seem to be that on the left. Hearing them maybe they are... who knows. They want the independence of Catalonia, and knowing that this is basically impossible (at least in the near future) they try to have the best for Catalonia, do they? At least they say it... Some actions were... (you can write disappointing words here): Perpignan, Jerusalem (with the PSC involved too).
The candidate was really polite during the debate. Probably to avoid attacks to the actions that he did being in the government. He studied philology and he knows how to talk (but he doesn’t know how to pronounce the “r” sounds).
Partit Popular de Catalunya: Josep Piqué i Camps.
If they ask to them, they are going to say that they are a centre-right party. If you ask to anybody else (including the people who vote them) they are a right-right party. The previous name of the party was Alianza Popular, and the members of that party came directly from the people next to Franco (it says a lot, doesn’t it?). After approving the Catalan Estatut (a kind of constitution) at the Catalan Parliament, at the Spanish Parliament and by public referendum, the PP party has been doing a campaign along the whole Spain against it. They are against homosexual marriages and rights, they wanted to put more religion in school and took off some maths, their government (in Spain) was giving money to the Francisco Franco Fundation. Enough?
The candidate is a weird example of opportunist. He was in the PSUC (communist party) when he was young. Then he studied economy and changed to the right. When the PP was in the power in Spain, he joined them and became minister (Science and Technology and something else too). From left to right and being the ruder one. He interrupted everybody in the debate, sitting in really rude way, holding his head and touching everybody else. Unbelievable.
Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds – Esquerra Unida i Alternativa:
Joan Saura i Laporta. The party was the Catalan version of the Izquierda Unida, but then they split it, and IC was alone, and the Catalan version of IU was EU. But they were a few people only. After it, IC joined the Greens (Verds) and EU became Alternativa, and after it they joined all together... ICV-EUiA. They are in the left and in the green side of the Catalan politics, that is true! And they have been in the last three years government.
The candidate was the only one who wasn’t wearing a tie, it is not sustainable probably. One line of the 2003 campaign was: “the tomatoes are going to have tomato taste again!”. But he is informed, and polite. They have been working for ecological stuff, historical memory and promoting the estatut.
I will save for the next post the summary and opinions of the debate. See you soon people!!!
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