Junts spokesman Josep Rius at the press conference this Monday EUROPA PRESS (EUROPA PRESS)
May’s municipal elections are just around the corner and Junts per Catalunya, Laura Borrà’s party leader, tried this Monday to hush up that it has more than 600 closed candidacies so far in its debut in those elections. So many details, however, contrast with the evasions when asked about the real elephant in the room for this appointment: the impact that a conviction for crimes related to the corruption of their President Laura Borràs could have. “We will not allow this arbitrariness of part of the Spanish judicial system to shape our political life,” spokesman Josep Rius said, recalling the words of Jordi Turull, number two of the party, last week.
Until now, only influential voices with no organic ties had questioned Borràs’ opposition to leaving office as a method of defense. Former President Artur Mas and Barcelona candidate Xavier Trias had indicated their disagreement with an extension of Parliament’s transitional situation. Borràs is suspended as president of the chamber, but the chair remains formally vacant. A few weeks ago, secretary of the parliamentary bureau Aurora Madaula, from the party’s Borrasist wing, made it clear that the debate was alive by suggesting that resigning from the presidency in protest was an option. After the verdict was announced, former President Quim Torra last Thursday referred to the possibility of leaving the seat vacant. The person who ended the ban was the President of the Commission for Training Guarantees, Magda Oranich, who said on RNE last Friday: “If it were me, I would resign from Parliament out of dignity” after she questioned the argument had asked that he is only being pursued because of his political leanings and highlighted the irregularities in the procurement between 2013 and 2017, when Borràs headed the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes.
Oranich’s words didn’t just feel bad in the Borràs sector. Also in the environment of Secretary General Jordi Turull, because they believe that although the future of the President must be addressed, this type of internal noise is generated and done in front of the public, they can give an electoral bill the image of training only in their problems between sensibilities wrapped. Other voices, albeit more discreet, defend the need to propose a different name for junts in order to keep the presidency of parliament under their influence. These sectors even circulate a name, that of Vic’s mayor, Anna Erra, who will step down in June.
Borràs hasn’t stopped promoting the territory in recent days, something he’s spiced up with his media tour to try to polish its image and where he says he really cares about “people’s support” to feel. Other candidates, such as Trias, whose outcome is critical to the future of junts, continue to eye them out of the corner of their eyes and show the minimal support necessary for the president, at most with lukewarm photos and messages on networks.
Rius has refused to explain what the impact might be on the results of the campaign, in which they aim to reach more than 800 candidatures, insisting that Borràs’ trial was “riddled with irregularities from start to finish” that the verdict of the Supreme Court of Catalonia to 4.5 years in prison and 13 years of professional ban is full of “political overtones”. He also said Oranich’s remarks were not addressed at Monday’s meeting, suggesting internal tensions were being diverted to hold the debate at least until after the election.
The strength of this dam, defended by Turull and its surroundings, remains to be seen. On the one hand because Borràs wants to use the territorial tour of the elections to continue his image-washing campaign and this may not sit well with candidates like Trias. The tug-of-war in this sense already anticipates new friction. On the other hand, there is pressure from the opposition in parliament and the fact that Ciudadanos has already asked the electoral board to finally revoke the suspended president’s mandate. The President of the PSC, Salvador Illa, announced this Monday that his group had registered a bill to amend the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber to include a mechanism for dismissing members of the Presidency.
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Illa has stated that the regulation is “working together to restore the dignity of the institutions” and has urged the chamber’s factions to agree to its speedy approval before the end of the month. “Institutions must not be placed at the service of anyone,” he said. ERC has not yet decided on this reform, but its spokeswoman Marta Vilalta has marked distances. “We regret that Junts has not put an end to corruption. They could change the acronyms, but the forms haven’t changed,” the Republican lamented. “It is your responsibility to protect the independence movement and ensure that it is not tarnished by the shadows of corruption,” he said.
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