Spanish elections and politics

[Velasco]

Former PM was today in Congress, told a lot of lies and seemed to be very delighted with himself. It's hard to explain how arrogant and unpleasant can be this insufferable little man

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/09/18/inenglish/1537279288_066798.html

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In other news, Pedro Sánchez proposes a constitutional reform in order that MPs can be judged by ordinary courts for charges unrelated to their official duties

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/09/17/inenglish/1537192289_050046.html

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This proposed 'express reform' seems extemporaneous and doomed to fail. given that the PP support is necessary and that party is not willing to. I don't know if it will work as a public relations campaign. Spanish Congress voted today a motion on the same subject put forward by Cs. PP and PSOE supported it but took advantage to attack Cs. Podemos and PNV voted against because Cs rejected an amendment on removing the king's inviolability. Catalan separatists voted against too. The value of the motion is merely symbolic.

Major news, Spain has rejected an extradition request on the behalf of the Swiss gov for an HSBC whistleblower
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-tax-spain/spain-rejects-latest-swiss-bid-to-extradite-hsbc-whistleblower-idUSKCN1LY1EG
How are banks viewed in Spain, are chains viewed similarly or more intense than in the states.

The argument to deny extradition is that there's nothing in the Spanish criminal code similar to 0aggravated financial espionage', which may indicate that bank secrecy is much more important in Switzerland. This week Belgium rejected the extradition of a rap 'artist' called Valtònyc because 'glorification of terrorism' and 'insult to the Crown' don't exist in the Belgian code. Answering your question, I think that rhe banks were seen better before the last financial crisis and the bailout to the Spanish banks.

[Velasco]

There have been insistent rumours in the last months that placed former French PM Manuel Valls as possible candidate for Mayor of Barcelona, presumably on the top of a 'constitutionalist' independent list backed by Cs. A Paris Match cover released in late August featured Manuel Valls with his new girlfriend Susana Gallardo. According to Paris Match Mr Valls has found happiness with Gallardo, portrayed by the French magazine as a Catalan businesswoman committed to the unity of Spain. Manuel Valls, who was born in Barcelona, implied in a recent interview that personal factors could influence his decision to run for mayor in the local elections next year. He said that he would make a decision at the end of summer. It's yet to confirm (within a few days), but there are two related news that may indicate something:

 1) There's an online petition demanding the resignation of Manuel Valls as member of the French National Assembly, because the promoters consider that Valls has became a "ghost deputy" that spends too much timer in Spain preparing his candidacy for Barcelona.

https://www.change.org/p/farida-amrani-exigeons-la-d%C3%A9mission-de-manuel-valls-d%C3%A9put%C3%A9-fant%C3%B4me-de-l-assembl%C3%A9e-nationale

2) According to El Periódico, Manuel Valls is beginning to organize his campaign. Valls would have offered a post of adviser to Xavier Roig, a man who was the right hand of former mayor Pasqual Maragall (PSC). Maragall was in office between 1983 and 1996 and during his tenure the <Barcelona Olympic Games took place, later he became premier of Catalonia (2003-2006) in re`placement pf Jordi Pujol. Hiring Roig could be an asset for Valls, in order to arm a strong candidacy in Barcelona.

https://www.elperiodico.com/es/barcelona/20180918/valls-ofrece-campana-electoral-xavier-roig-7041748

Manuel Valls and Susana Gallardo in Paris Match:

https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Politique/Manuel-Valls-Susana-Gallardo-son-nouvel-amour-1570858

In case Valls decides to run, his main rivals would be incumbent mayor Ada Cola (BComú, backed by Podemos)u and the pro-independence candidate backed by Puigdemoint (presumably Ferran Mascarell. formerly in PSC). It's unclear if pro-independence parties will form a unity list (Puigdemont list and ERC) or run in their own.

I

[windjammer]

RIP Spain. Although to be honest Valls fits so well Ciudadanos

[Former President tack50]

Yay, unpopular foreign Prime Ministers for mayor! Though to be fair, if Valls somehow became mayor it would be quite a significant event in the EU, the first time a foreigner becomes mayor of an important town in another country.

In any case though, Valls seems to me like a significant underdog. Colau is favoured since she can get the support of both unionist parties (PSC) and secessionist parties (ERC, CUP); plus the fact that the right has only won the elections in Barcelona exactly once (in the 2011 right wing landslide)

The secessionists (particularly ERC or if they make a joint list) do have a chance of unseating Valls, but Cs doesn't.

[Velasco]

RIP Spain. Although to be honest Valls fits so well Ciudadanos

Manuel Valls would like to be candidate of a 'constitutionalist' coalition with Cs, PSC and PP. It's highly unlikely that Catalan Socialists accept to be in that list. Maybe PP could consider to join if polls say they would disappear from the city council, but I'm not sure. Cs leader is very enthusiastic with the possibility and he would like that Manuel Valls was the candidate of his party, but the French politician prefers a broader coalition. There is an evident affinity between Rivera and Valls and the latter seems to have plans to stay in Barcelona. I don't like Valls, but I think the campaign would be very interesting with him running. In any case, his chances of winning a majority are null and his chances of placing first depend on external factors (i.e the unity of the pro-independence parties or the Ada Colau's resilience). If he was to be the mayor, I'd say "poor Barcelona", but I don't think this is the likeliest outcome.

[Former President tack50]

Well, what used to be the bestt pollster, the public CIS, is now going to do monthly polls, instead of 1 poll every 3 months. The change is good, and their first monthly poll is this one

CIS



Honeestly, this poll is terrible garbage. We should rename CIS to "Centre of Socialist Investigations" by now lol.

The reason why it's thrash is basically that PSOE is way up and PP way down. Especially compared with the "direct vote intention" (before adjustments are made), where PSOE is actually way down from the last poll and PP quite up.

I still believe PSOE should be ahead, but by 1-2 points, not by 10 like the poll shows. In fact, a direct extapolation would show PSOE winnning in literally all provinces except the 4 catalan ones, 2/3 Basque provinces and Ávila.

Other weird stuff is ERC being way up (4% is a lot), Bildu out of nowhere overtaking PNV when literally no other poll predicts that

Also, the funniest crosstab of all time, apparently 16% of CC voters will now vote for Bildu. Yes n=1 but still considering that Bildu and CC don't run in the same provinces I'm having a hard time thinking about such a voter.

Only good thing is that it does show Vox and PACMA (for the first time I think, at least for Vox). With 1.4% and 1.6% respectively, they are both at the edge of getting 1 seat, with Vox being slightly closer because of  their vote distribution (PACMA is more spread out)

We also have 2 more (and better IMO) polls:

DYM for El Independiente and Prensa Ibérica



Metroscopia



Finally, we also have some regional polls. I'm not going to post them all but if anyone cares here they are

https://www.electograph.com/search/label/Auton%C3%B3micas

In terms of my "ratings", I'm now less confident about PP winning again in Melilla (though they should still be favoured) and think that GBai is ahead in Navarra (instead of being a tossup)



Finally, in non polling related news, Manuel Valls is officially in as Cs' candidate for Barcelona mayor

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/former-french-pm-seeks-political-redemption-in-barcelona-1.3640045

[Former President tack50]

Also, there's a scandal in the Sánchez cabinet (again). This time involving a leaked private conversation from minister of Justice Dolores Delgado calling minister of the interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska a fa*** (maricón) all the way back in 2009. Grande-Marlaska is openly homesexual.

The conversation was recorded by the controversial Jose Jimenez Villarejo. Not only that but apparently she initially denied having been with him, then apparently she had to admit she had been with him.

In any case, not sure if she will end up resigning but if she does it will be the 3rd resignation in slightly less than 4 months lol.

This government is having a ton of scandals for some reason. They are handled better and are less serious than the PP scandals IMO but still there are a ton. Then again that might be my political leanings.

[EPG]

Finally, in non polling related news, Manuel Valls is officially in as Cs' candidate for Barcelona mayor

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/former-french-pm-seeks-political-redemption-in-barcelona-1.3640045

Lara says he would rather not be just C's, later confirmed in the official announcement of his non-party candidacy, and from Le Monde I learned a new word to me, "le parachutage".

[Velasco]

Finally, in non polling related news, Manuel Valls is officially in as Cs' candidate for Barcelona mayor

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/former-french-pm-seeks-political-redemption-in-barcelona-1.3640045

Lara says he would rather not be just C's, later confirmed in the official announcement of his non-party candidacy, and from Le Monde I learned a new word to me, "le parachutage".

Exactly. Valls will run as an independent candidate with the support of Cs.

The CIS poll is not credible. Anyway the PSOE resists on the top, making gains at the expense of Podemos. The Pedro Sánchez government is like a fortress under siege and the grace period comes to an end. The Dolores Delgado affair is clearly blackmail. PP and Cs fight for the second place, with advantage for the latter. The radicalization of Casado (PP) and Rivera (Cs) might be boosting Vox.

[Former President tack50]

And yet another scandal in the Sánchez government. This time involving Science and Universities minister Pedro Duque (the famous "astronaut minister")

In this case Duque is being accused of buying his house through a "business without activity" in order to pay less in taxes. Meanwhile Duque claims that he didn't do anything illegal and that he ended up paying the same amount in taxes that he would have paid otherwise, and that his actual salary was also paid directly to him and not through that business.

And of course earlier declarations of Sánchez on the issue have come to bite him back. This time he apparently claimed in 2015 that "If someone in the executive of my party had created a society to pay less in taxes, that person would be out of the executive next morning".

Not sure if Duque should resign or not honestly.

But yet another scandal makes me worried about the Sánchez government.

[Oryxslayer]

All these scandals make it seem like the Sanchez government came to power 'before its prime' so to speak. They were thrust into power and had to stick people in government without a proper vetting. Might not be true, but thats the image.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

BREAKING

Spanish Congress supports a legislative decree approved by the government in August in order to exhume and move away the Franco's remains from the Valle de los Caídos memorial.

The vote went as follows: 172 in favour, 164 abstentions and 2 against. All PP and Cs deputies abstained, except two PP members who voted against alleging mistake.

On the legislative decree

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/08/24/inenglish/1535097265_662248.html

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Wonderful news.

Why do C's even abstain. They should be a liberal pro-Europe political party, but they secretly still admire Franco. Ugh, Spanish politics is sick.

[Velasco]

Yesterday it was the anniversary of the illegal referendum called by the separatist government of Catalonia. It wasn't a a legally valid referendum and the results were not internationally approved. However the October 1 will be remembered by the unnecessary police brutality, which was the visible consequence of the Rajoy's awkwardness. About 2 million of Catalans, overwhelmingly pro-independence, turned out on that day to express their desire to vote. I think the leaders of the independence movement of Catalonia are a bunch of liars that have fed their people with false hopes and false arguments. Anyway there is some Spanish centralist nationalism that is even worse, Those citizens were excercising their freedom of expression and casting ballots in a fake referendum does not harm anybody. The disproportionate police response damaged the international reputation of Spain.

The independence movement claims to be peaceful and civil. This has been true so far, but there are disturbing signs on the horizon. Yesterday 'radical separatists'  tried to storm the Parliament of Catalonia

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/10/02/inenglish/1538467014_334868.html

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[MAINEiac4434]

BREAKING

Spanish Congress supports a legislative decree approved by the government in August in order to exhume and move away the Franco's remains from the Valle de los Caídos memorial.

The vote went as follows: 172 in favour, 164 abstentions and 2 against. All PP and Cs deputies abstained, except two PP members who voted against alleging mistake.

On the legislative decree

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/08/24/inenglish/1535097265_662248.html

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Wonderful news.

Why do C's even abstain. They should be a liberal pro-Europe political party, but they secretly still admire Franco. Ugh, Spanish politics is sick.

Because a lot of their support comes from nationalists. They hammered their colors to the mast in the Catalonia crisis.

[Former President tack50]

And speaking of Catalonia, Catalan premier Quim Torra has sent an ultimatum to the Spanish government: either Sánchez starts negotiating a real and internationally recognized referendum before November, or they'll drop support of the Sánchez government in Congress (almost certainly meaning a snap general election).

As expected, the Spanish government has already rejected that, claiming they are in support of (more) self-government, but not of self-determination. They also reject reactivating article 155 as some in Cs and PP are asking though.

https://elpais.com/politica/2018/10/02/actualidad/1538498312_253041.html
https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/10/02/catalunya/1538491575_334391.html?rel=str_articulo#1538505650468

[Oryxslayer]

And speaking of Catalonia, Catalan premier Quim Torra has sent an ultimatum to the Spanish government: either Sánchez starts negotiating a real and internationally recognized referendum before November, or they'll drop support of the Sánchez government in Congress (almost certainly meaning a snap general election).

As expected, the Spanish government has already rejected that, claiming they are in support of (more) self-government, but not of self-determination. They also reject reactivating article 155 as some in Cs and PP are asking though.

https://elpais.com/politica/2018/10/02/actualidad/1538498312_253041.html
https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/10/02/catalunya/1538491575_334391.html?rel=str_articulo#1538505650468

Well, that would be a quicker govt. collapse then expected, I thought they would last till spring.

[Former President tack50]

Yeah, me too. I expected that either Sánchez would expire his term, call a snap election well after the EU elections (say, autumn 2019) or the budget fails and Sánchez calls the election in February/March at the earliest.

Though I guess the last scenario can still happen, PDECat might not support Sánchez but they sure aren't going to support Casado/Rivera either. Though maybe Rivera should get in touch with them and call a no confidence vote which clearly is intended just to call an election with an independent caretaker government?

[Velasco]

And speaking of Catalonia, Catalan premier Quim Torra has sent an ultimatum to the Spanish government: either Sánchez starts negotiating a real and internationally recognized referendum before November, or they'll drop support of the Sánchez government in Congress (almost certainly meaning a snap general election).

As expected, the Spanish government has already rejected that, claiming they are in support of (more) self-government, but not of self-determination. They also reject reactivating article 155 as some in Cs and PP are asking though.

https://elpais.com/politica/2018/10/02/actualidad/1538498312_253041.html
https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/10/02/catalunya/1538491575_334391.html?rel=str_articulo#1538505650468

The ultimatum failed in less than 24 hours, due to the lack of support from ERC and PDeCAT. Premier Quim Torra, who is an independent elected in the Puigdemont list (JxCAT), acted in his own without talking with the parties supporting his government (I ignore if he contacted Puigdemont and his Waterloo clique). Torra was asked to resign in previous days by the 'radical separatists' of the CDR (Committees to Defend the Republic, close to the CUP) and by the 'unionist' opposition (PP and Cs). Just before the October 1 anniversary Catalan premier encouraged the self-organized CDR groups to keep pressure in the streets. Hardline separatist Torra was being called 'traitor' by the CDR radicals because of previous incidents with the regional police and because his government isn't implementing the 'Catalan Republic'. Kind words didn't ingratiate Torra with the 'radicals', whom tried to storm the regional parliament after the October 1 demonstration forcing regional police to repeal them. These incidents prove that the separatist parties and organizations (ANC, Òmnium) are the losing control of the treets, as well as show the incompetence of the regional government. As for the ultimatum ensuing the riots, it shows that Torra is an amateurish and incompetent gambler unworthy of Machiavelli. I think Catalan parties are aware that making Pedro Sánchez to fall will benefit Pablo Casado and Albert Rivera- Unlike Sánchez, Casado and Rivera don't want to talk with separatists. The two parties of the Spanish Right want to implement article 155 again, imposing again direct rule in Catalonia and extending the control of the central government to education, TV and radio. Casado also wants to outlaw separatist parties.

Days ago Quim Torra sent a letter to the Spanish PM copied to world leaders

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/10/04/inenglish/1538642944_252769.html

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[Former President tack50]

El Confidencial did an interesting report analyzing the voters of the 2 latest "emerging parties": PACMA and Vox

https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2018-10-06/vox-pacma-encuestas-elecciones-cis-escano_1626357/



Basically:

Vox has an average age of 55. So quite the old party, probably shared with PP.
PACMA has a very young base, with the average age being 33!.

Vox (much like similar parties in Europe) has a very masculine base of 63% men, while PACMA has a very feminine base of 70% women. In both cases it's a lot more skewed than the main 4 parties (which never go beyond something like 57-43 either way)

PACMA is voted mostly by leftists, with 47% being on the left (0-4) and another 25% on the centre (5). Interestingly there are 6.3% of right wing PACMA voters.

On the other hand Vox is quite on the right, with almost no voters on the left, 16% on the centre and 21% on the centre-right (6). More than 60% of Vox voters place themselves clearly right of center (7-10)

[Former President tack50]

It's finally official now, Susana Diaz will call a snap Andalusian election for the 2nd of December, in order to avoid having it the same day as a hypothetical snap election.

https://www.elperiodico.com/es/politica/20181008/susana-diaz-convoca-elecciones-anticipadas-andalucia-7077227

Though honestly she should have called it much sooner (ideally for late October), particularly when the ERE corruption judgement is around the corner. I wonder when will be the exact date, but the court ruling will certainly come during the campaign or just before it.

In any case, Andalucia is Safe PSOE, the only question is whether she will do a deal with Cs again or maybe with Podemos (even though the Andalusian Podemos branch hates her and she hates Podemos as well)

[Former President tack50]

A couple of new regional polls (we will start getting more and more of these as we get closer to May 2019). We also get one of the few polls that show Vox with chances at a seat in a regional election (which surprised me honestly)

El Heraldo de Aragón for Aragon regional elections

PSOE: 23.6% (17-19)
PP: 22.3% (16-19)
Cs: 21.4% (15-17)
UP: 17.3% (11-12)
PAR: 5.7% (3)
ChA: 3.2% (1)
Vox: 2.7% (0-1)

https://www.electograph.com/2018/10/aragon-amasm-181014.html

My rating: Lean PP (flip)

Even in the best case scenario for the left, they still lose their majority. IMO Lambán is toast, only way he manages to hold on is with a PSOE-Cs coalition (with or without PAR). But the left will certainly lose their majority here

They also did polls for the mayors of the 3 provincial capitals (Zaragoza, Huesca, Teruel). The general summary seems to be:

https://www.electograph.com/2018/10/aragon-capitales-amasm-181014.html

Huesca: Tossup. The left will probably win in terms of votes, but because of Aragón Sí Puede (which may be Podemos, IU or neither!) and ChA falling shortly below the 5% threshold (both around 4%), a right wing government is within the margin of error.

Zaragoza: Lean PSOE (flip). Mayor Santiesteve (Podemos) is toast. He drops from a narrow second in 2015 all the way to 4th. Zaragoza for some reason has been quite a left wing city (even holding its PSOE mayor in the 2011 wave!). However the left combined still adds up to a majority. PSOE goes up a lot, while PP stays the same and Cs rises quite a bit. ChA may or may not make the threshold. Finally Vox was polled and got around 3%, well below the threshold (but still sort of close).

Teruel: Safe PP. The right increases in a place where PP+Cs already got short of a majority by just 1 seat in 2015 (currently there's a PP+Cs+PAR coalition). The only question is how much will it increase and how close Cs will get to PP, but really Teruel is safe for PP.

CC internal only in Gran Canaria, for the Cabildo and the regional parliament

Cabildo

NC: 27.5% (9)
PSOE: 17.4% (5-6)
CC-Unidos: 14.7% (4-5)
PP: 12.5% (4)
Cs: 10.8% (3)
UP: 10.7% (3)
Others: 6.4%

My rating: Safe NC

Morales is very popular and is safe IMO. Only question is whether NC-PSOE will be enough or whether he'll also need Podemos or someone else.

Canary Islands parliament (15 Gran Canaria seats)

PSOE: 20.5% (3-4)
NC: 17.4% (3)
UP: 15.8% (2-3)
PP: 13.5% (2)
Cs: 13.3% (2)
CC-Unidos: 13.3% (2)
Others: 6.2%

Lol, all parties almost tied with each other. No rating since this is just one constituency, but in general ok news for the left (though they lose 1 seat compared to 2015) and great news for CC, which goes up in a hostile island (then again it's a CC internal so no wonder).

The poll also includes several approval ratings for various local politicians:

https://www.canarias7.es/binrepository/estimacio-n-voto-octubre-2018_4114712_20181013220146.pdf

Honestly the most surprising is that premier Fernando Clavijo is somehow above water in the most hostile island to him! (5.3/10)

Keep in mind that this isn't just an internal, but also an old internal, allegedly from July.

[Former President tack50]

Well, the budget was presented the other day to Brussels and presented by the government. The big changes in the budget are:

Increasing minimum wage to 900€

Increasing income tax for those earning over 130 000€

Reforming the law of urban rents, to protect tenants, to allow municipalities to put price controls in bad areas and increasing the budget of the national housing plan by 200 million €

Raising the smallest pensions by 3% in 2019 and making pensions rise according to inflation from now on

Rasing the minimum corporate tax to 15%, taxing dividends and profits (currently they are 100% tax free, now they'll only be 95% tax free), introducing a financial transactions tax of 0.2%



Also, we got our first poll for Andalucía after the election was called

Aurea Project for esdiario.com

PSOE: 32.8% (37-40)
PP: 23.6% (29-32)
Cs: 18.5% (20-22)
AA: 19.0% (19-22)

PACMA: 2.3% (0)
Vox: 1.0% (0)

[Former President tack50]

Well, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has visited ERC leader Oriol Junqueras in prison, to try and unlock the budget a bit. He has also spoken over the phone with PDECat leader Carles Puigdemont. The situation seems to be the same, with ERC and PDECat claiming there won't be a budget without the so-called political prisoners being freed, while the government claims they can't do that as the judicial branch is independent from the executive branch.

He will also meet with Basque premier Iñigo Urkullu soon.

IMO the budget will pass but it all depends on the Catalan secessionists (I don't expect PNV to put much of a fight). Depending on the time of day and who you are asking they adopt either a hardline or a more concilliatory approach.

Keep in mind that the budget only needs a simple majority, so at least one of ERC and PDECat could abstain instead of outright voting in favour (depending also on what Bildu and CC do of course)


In polling news, we also got one more poll for the Andalusian regional election due for early December

NC Report for La Razón (Andalusian regionals; 109 seats, 55 for a majority)

PSOE: 36.6% (45)
PP: 23.4% (28)
AA: 18.6% (22)
Cs: 14.0% (14)

IMOP Insights for El Confidencial (Andalusian regionals)

PSOE: 29.8%
Cs: 22.3%
AA: 21.7%
PP: 20.5%

So yeah, Andalucia remains Safe PSOE; with the only questions being what happens with the other 3 (who comes in 2nd, 3rd and 4th and the margins) and whether PSOE will reach a deal with AA or with Cs. I think the former is easier now because of the national environment, but keep in mind the Andalusian Podemos branch is one of the more hostile ones to PSOE, while the Andalusian PSOE branch is one of the most conservative ones.

We also got some national polling over the last few weeks, including one of those "big if true" kind of polls

Celeste-Tel for eldiario.es

PSOE: 27.7% (109-112)
PP: 26.3% (101-104)
Cs: 19.3% (60-62)
UP: 17.4% (47-51)
Vox: 1.0% (0)
PACMA: 0.8% (0)

ERC: 3.0% (11-12)
PDECat: 1.7% (6)
PNV: 1.1% (5)
EH Bildu: 0.8% (2)
CC: 0.3% (1)

Simple Lógica

PSOE: 25.2%
PP: 23.8%
Cs: 21.6%
UP: 17.3%

NC Report for La Razón

PSOE: 26.8% (105-107)
PP: 26.7% (107-109)
Cs: 19.5% (62-65)
UP: 16.8% (45-48)
Vox: 1.9% (1)

ERC: 3.0% (11-12)
PDECat: 1.4% (5-6)
PNV: 1.1% (5-6)
EH Bildu: 0.7% (2-3)
CC: 0.3% (1)

Metroscopia

PSOE: 25.2%
PP: 22.6%
Cs: 19.2%
UP: 17.7%
Vox: 5.1%!

Others: 10.2%

The Metroscopia poll is a big outlier, but if true it would mean that Vox would actually get around half a dozen seats, and their own parliamentary group! (instead of going to the mixed group alongside Bildu and CC)

A general election remains a tossup, but PSOE's lead has narrowed down since the no confidence vote.

[Former President tack50]

Well, Podemos proposed legalizing marihuana right after Canada did it, but their proposal ended up just being that, a proposal. Interestingly Cs also supports marihuana legalization while PP and PSOE oppose it.

Still, there was a poll made on the topic which is quite interesting:



Honestly, I'm surprised that no wins, I'd have thought that legalization would win. Also, PSOE supporters are almost equally split, and even more suprisingly, Cs supporters lean quite heavily towards no even though their party supports it!

[Velasco]

Ousted Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont launched a new party, on the anniversary of the unilateral declaration of independence. RIP Convergència / PDeCAT

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/27/ousted-catalan-leader-carles-puigdemont-launches-new-party

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