Ahead of tomorrow’s regional elections in Catalonia, its deposed president Carles Puigdemont spoke to his supporters Tuesday night via a video link from Brussels. He urged the Catalan people to vote for his list, "Together for Catalonia “, and to exercise its right to select the government.
"The presidency of Catalonia is not beheaded and does not change according to the convenience of Madrid," said Puigdemont. "The elections on 21 December is not about politics, or about people, it's about dignity," he said.
He argued that if the Catalans would accept the dictates imposed by Madrid, the next regional government would be at the mercy of similar decisions of the central government.
In Barcelona, ??hundreds of people came to listen to him, along with other candidates on his list, in front of a giant screen.
Laura Santfeliu, 45, said she was not bothered by being in contact with a distant candidate, now living in Belgium. "I think it was a good idea (that he left)," she told AFP: “It allowed the Catalan problem to become internationalized ".
On 27 October, after the declaration of independence passed in the regional parliament, the Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy removed the entire Catalan government, whose mandate should in principle have lasted until 2019. He dissolved the Catalan parliament and convened new elections for this Thursday.
The Brussels Times
