Esquerra Republicana will submit to a vote among its militancy the decision on an eventual investiture of Pedro Sánchez. This was decided by the party in a national council held this Friday in which the first scenarios arising from the election day last Sunday were analyzed, in which the pro-independence party lost six seats (it went from thirteen to seven) and 412,000 votes. , close to half of those achieved in 2019.

ERC already carried out a consultation with its bases after the previous general elections. With a participation of 70% of the census, 94.6% of the affiliates approved the strategy proposed by the management, which opted to facilitate the investiture of Sánchez with an abstention if the PSOE agreed to activate a dialogue table between the Government and the Generalitat to resolve the open conflict with the procés.

That consultation, which was not binding, was formulated through a convoluted question: “Do you agree to reject the investiture of Pedro Sánchez if there is no prior agreement to address the political conflict with the State through a negotiation table?” .

On this occasion, during the 23-J electoral campaign, the Republicans linked their support for the investiture of the candidate for re-election to three conditions: continue negotiating self-determination in the bilateral forum created in 2020, end the fiscal deficit that they consider to be suffering Catalonia, and which amount to between 18,000 and 20,000 million euros per year, and complete the transfer of the Cercanías rail service so that the Government can manage it fully (currently, the infrastructure is still in the hands of Adif and Renfe remains the operator, although the Generalitat could choose another company).

Junts and the foreign vote

Unlike four years ago, this time Sánchez needs the Republicans to vote in favor of his candidacy for president, since the most complex and unpredictable negotiation, in which the socialist candidate until now sought abstention, is the one he will hold with Junts for Catalonia. However, if it is confirmed that the PP snatches a seat from the PSOE after the scrutiny of the foreign vote, at least two yeses would be necessary among the seven post-convergent deputies, unless the Canary Islands Coalition also supports the current acting head of the Executive.

For now, Junts has not announced any internal consultation to endorse its position before a hypothetical investiture session led by the PSOE general secretary. However, last October, the party founded by Carles Puigdemont organized a vote among the militancy to resolve another transcendental political decision: the rupture of the government pact with ERC in the Generalitat.

To the question “Do you want Junts to continue forming part of the Government of Catalonia?”, 55.7% of the affiliates expressed their refusal, while 42.4% preferred to maintain the coalition with the Republicans.