BARCELONA/MADRID: A Catalan independence leader on the run from Spanish justice could hold the key to unlocking a political impasse after Sunday's election ended in a hung parliament.
Former Catalan regional government head Carles Puigdemont, who lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium since leading a failed push to split Catalonia from Spain in 2017, unexpectedly finds himself a potential kingmaker after no bloc on the left or right won enough seats to form a majority.
One path out of the labyrinth would be for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to secure a vote in favour, or at least an abstention, of his forming a government from Puigdemont's Junts party in exchange for further concessions on independence.
The centre-right People's Party (PP) and the far-right Vox won the most seats in parliament with a combined 169 - short of the 176 seats needed for a majority and confounding poll predictions.
The ruling Socialists (PSOE) and far-left Sumar won 153 but have more possibilities for negotiating support from small Basque and Catalan separatist parties, as they did following 2019's election.
Sanchez could win over left-wing separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), as he did to form a minority government in 2020. But he will likely also need the backing of the more hardline Junts, which has not supported Sanchez in the past four years.
Centre-right Junts has not conveyed a clear position but has vowed to adopt a more confrontational approach than ERC.
Its Secretary-General Jordi Turull said on Monday he would use the "window of opportunity" created by the election impasse to achieve Catalan independence.
"The state knows that if it wants to negotiate with us, there are two issues that are fundamental and generate consensus in Catalonia which are an amnesty and self-determination," he said in an interview with local radio station RAC 1.
Turull was among the nine Catalan jailed separatist leaders pardoned by Sanchez in 2021. However, many more are still facing trial over their role, chief amongst them
Puigdemont, who still wields considerable influence within Junts, said in mid-July that Junts would not support Sanchez because he was unreliable. Early on Monday he tweeted that Junts is a party that keeps its word. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
