Republican Left of Catalonia

Republican Left of Catalonia
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
President Oriol Junqueras
Secretary-General Marta Rovira
Founded 19 March 1931
Headquarters C/Calàbria, 166
08015 Barcelona, Spain
Youth wing Young Republican Left of Catalonia
Membership (2016) 8,048 [1]
Ideology Catalan nationalism[2][3]
Catalan independence[4][5][6][7][8][9]
Left-wing nationalism[10][11][12]
Republicanism[13][14]
Democratic socialism[15]
Social democracy[16][3]
Economic liberalism[17]
European federalism[18]
Political position Centre-left[19][20] to left-wing[21][22]
European affiliation European Free Alliance
European Parliament group Greens–European Free Alliance
Colours      Orange
Congress of Deputies (Catalan seats)
9 / 47
Spanish Senate (Catalan seats)
12 / 23
European Parliament
2 / 54
Parliament of Catalonia
31 / 135
Town councillors in Catalonia
2,384 / 9,077
Town councillors in the Balearic Islands
16 / 925
Website
www.esquerra.cat

The Republican Left of Catalonia (Catalan: Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; IPA: [əsˈkɛrə rəpubːliˈkanə ðə kətəˈluɲə]) is a Catalan nationalist and democratic socialist political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia.[23] It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans. Occitan Republican Left, formed in 2008, acts as the Aranese section of the party.

Its current president is Oriol Junqueras and its secretary-general is Marta Rovira. The party is a member of the European Free Alliance.

History

Portrait of Pere Mestres i Albet (1901-1975), professor of electrical expert, founder of ERC, Minister of Interior of the Government of Catalonia (October, 1933 - December, 1933) and Public Works and Health (1933-1936).
Catalonia
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Catalonia

The party was founded in March 1931 as the union of the independentist Estat Català (Catalan State), led by Francesc Macià, the Catalan Republican Party, led by Lluís Companys and the L'Opinió Group of Joan Lluhí i Vallescà. The party had done extremely well in the municipal elections of 12 April 1931. Two days later, on 14 April, few hours before the proclamation of the Spanish Republic in Madrid, Macià declared in Barcelona that Catalonia would become an independent republic within the Iberian Federation. This was not exactly what had been agreed in the Pact of San Sebastián, so three days later they negotiated with the Madrid government that Macià would become president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, an autonomous Catalan government inside the new Spanish Republic.[24] In September 1932, the Spanish Republican Cortes approved the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia which, among other provisions, granted a Catalan Parliament with full legislative powers, and it was elected on 20 November 1932. The Republican Left of Catalonia won a large majority of seats.

On 6 October 1934, Lluís Companys, elected by the Parliament of Catalonia as new President of the Generalitat after the death of Francesc Macià in December 1933, unlawfully declared a Catalan Republic within a Spanish Federation, following the entry of right-wing ministers of the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) into the Government of the Spanish Republic. The party leaders (including Companys itself) and the Catalan Government were sentenced by the Spanish Republic and jailed, and the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia was suspended until February 1936.

In 1936, at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War, ERC decided to become part of the Popular Front to contest that year's election, which it won. Esquerra became the leading force of the Popular Front in Catalonia and during the war tried to maintain the unity of the Front in the face of growing tensions between the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) and the pro-soviet Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC).

The party was declared illegal (along with all other participants in the Popular Front) by Francisco Franco after he came to power in 1939. The former president of the Catalan Generalitat, Lluís Companys, was arrested by German agents in collaboration with Vichy France, returned to Spain and executed on 15 October 1940.

The party is also federated with parties in the Balearic Islands and in Northern Catalonia in France, as well as with Republican Left of the Valencian Country in the Valencian Community. Except for their Balearic counterpart, none of the latter currently have any parliamentary representation in their respective territories, though they do have 8 municipal councillors in the Balearic Islands[25] and 6 councillors in the Valencian Community.[25]

Political principles and representation

Its basic political principles are defined in the Statement of Ideology approved at the 19th National Congress in 1993. This is organised into the three areas that give the organisation its name: Esquerra (commitment to the Left's agenda in the political debate), República (commitment to the Republican form of government vs. Spain's current constitutional monarchy) and Catalunya (Catalan independentism, which, as understood by ERC, comprises the Catalan Countries).

Despite having been one of the main forces behind the movement for amendment, the party eventually opposed the 2006 changes to the Catalan Statute of Autonomy to increase Catalonia's autonomy. It did so on the grounds that it did not do enough to increase Catalan independence. This caused a government crisis with its partners (specially with the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, PSC) which led to an early election in 2006.

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya has 21 seats in the Catalan Parliament, suffering a dramatic setback after the 2010 Catalan parliamentary election and an equally dramatic gain in 2012, and one seat in the Balearic Parliament. Until 2010, it was one of the three coalition members of the tripartite left-wing Catalan Government, together with Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) and Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV). The coalition was often uneasy due to tensions related to the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. The snap election on November 25, 2012 saw ERC rise to a total of 21 seats in the Catalan Parliament.

Out of Catalonia, it has nine seats (fifth largest group by seats) in the Spanish Parliament and two seats in the European Parliament.

Presidents

  1. Francesc Macià (1931-1933)
  2. Lluís Companys (1933-1935)
  3. Carles Pi i Sunyer (1933-1935)
  4. Lluís Companys (1936-1940)
  5. Heribert Barrera (1993-1995)
  6. Jaume Campabadal (1995-1996)
  7. Jordi Carbonell (1996-2004)
  8. Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira (2004-2008)
  9. Joan Puigcercós (2008-2011)
  10. Oriol Junqueras (2011-)

General Secretaries

  1. Joan Lluís Pujol i Font (March 1931 - April 1931)
  2. Josep Tarradellas (April 1931 - March 1932)
  3. Joan Tauler (March 1932 - 1938)
  4. Josep Tarradellas (1938 - 1957)
  5. Joan Sauret (1957 - 1976)
  6. Heribert Barrera (1976-1987)
  7. Joan Hortalà (1987-1989)
  8. Àngel Colom Colom (1989-1996)
  9. Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira (1996-2004)
  10. Joan Puigcercós (2004-2008)
  11. Joan Ridao i Martín (2008-2011)
  12. Marta Rovira i Vergés (2011-)

Electoral performance

Parliament of Catalonia

Date Votes Seats Status Size Notes
# % ±pp # ±
1932 224,800 47.1% — — Government *
1980 240,871 8.9% — — Opposition 5th
1984 126,943 4.4% –4.5 9 Government 5th government 1984–87
1988 111,647 4.1% –0.3 1 Opposition 5th
1992 210,366 8.0% +3.9 5 Opposition 3rd
1995 305,867 9.5% +1.5 2 Opposition 5th
1999 271,173 8.7% –0.8 1 Opposition 4th
2003 544,324 16.4% +7.7 11 Government 3rd government 2003–06
2006 416,355 14.0% –2.4 2 Government 3rd
2010 219,173 7.0% –7.0 11 Opposition 5th
2012 498,124 13.7% +6.7 9 Opposition ** government support
2015 1,628,714 39.6% n/a 1 Government ***
2017 935,861 21.4% n/a 12 Government **

Parliament of the Balearic Islands

Date Votes Seats Status Size
# % ±pp # ±
1995 2,082 0.6% — — N/A 7th
1999 1,106 0.3% –0.6 0 N/A 8th
2003 1,667 0.4% +0.1 0 N/A 9th
2007* 37,572 9.0% +8.6 1 Government **
2011*** 5,325 1.3% –7.7 1 N/A 8th
2015 766 0.2% –1.1 0 N/A 17th

Cortes Generales

Spain

Congress of Deputies
Date Votes Seats Status Size Notes
# % ±pp # ±
1977 143,954 0.8% — — Opposition *
1979 123,452 0.7% –0.1 0 Opposition 13th
1982 138,118 0.7% ±0.0 0 Opposition 9th
1986 84,628 0.4% –0.2 1 Opposition 12th
1989 84,756 0.4% ±0.0 0 Opposition 16th
1993 189,632 0.8% +0.4 1 Opposition 9th
1996 167,641 0.7% −0.1 0 Opposition 9th
2000 194,715 0.8% +0.1 0 Opposition 9th
2004 652,196 2.5% +1.7 7 Opposition 5th government support
2008 298,139 1.2% −1.3 5 Opposition 7th
2011 256,985 1.1% −0.1 0 Opposition 8th
2015 604,285 2.4% +1.3 6 Opposition 6th
2016 639,652 2.7% +0.3 0 Opposition 5th
 
Senate
Date Seats Size
# ±
1977 — *
1979 1 **
1982 0 ***
1986 2 12th
1989 0 16th
1993 0 9th
1996 0 9th
2000 1 ****
2004 2 ****
2008 0 ****
2011 3 8th
2015 6 4th
2016 4 3rd

Catalonia

Congress of Deputies
Date Votes Seats Size
# % ±pp # ±
1977 143,954 4.7% — — *
1979 123,452 4.2% –0.5 0 5th
1982 138,118 4.0% –0.2 0 5th
1986 84,628 2.7% –1.3 1 6th
1989 84,756 2.7% ±0.0 0 6th
1993 186,784 5.1% +2.4 1 5th
1996 162,545 4.2% −0.9 0 5th
2000 190,292 5.6% +1.4 0 4th
2004 638,902 15.9% +10.3 7 3rd
2008 291,532 7.8% –8.1 5 4th
2011 244,854 7.1% –0.7 0 5th
2015 601,782 16.0% +8.9 6 2nd
2016 632,234 18.2% +2.2 0 2nd
  
Senate
Date Seats Size
# ±
1977 — *
1979 1 **
1982 0 ***
1986 2 6th
1989 0 6th
1993 0 5th
1996 0 5th
2000 1 ****
2004 2 ****
2008 0 ****
2011 3 4th
2015 6 1st
2016 4 1st

Balearic Islands

Congress of Deputies
Date Votes Seats Size
# % ±pp # ±
1993 2,848 0.7% — — 8th
1996 1,802 0.4% −0.3 0 7th
2000 1,340 0.3% –0.1 0 7th
2004 40,289 8.6% +8.3 0 *
2008 25,454 5.4% –3.2 0 **
2011 4,681 1.1% –4.3 0 6th
2015 N/A
2016 7,418 1.6% — — ***
  
Senate
Date Seats Size
# ±
1993 — 8th
1996 0 8th
2000 0 11th
2004 0 *
2008 0 **
2011 0 7th
2015 N/A
2016 — ***

European Parliament

Spain
Date Votes Seats Size
# % ±pp # ±
1987 326,911 1.7% — — *
1989 238,909 1.5% –0.2 0 *
1994 239,339 1.3% –0.2 0 *
1999 613,968 2.9% +1.6 0 *
2004 380,709 2.5% –0.4 1 *
2009 394,938 2.5% ±0.0 0 *
2014 630,072 4.0% +1.5 0 **
  
Catalonia
Date Votes Size
# % ±pp
1987 112,107 3.7% — 6th
1989 78,408 3.3% –0.4 6th
1994 141,285 5.5% +2.2 5th
1999 174,374 6.1% +0.6 4th
2004 249,757 11.8% +5.7 4th
2009 181,213 9.2% –2.6 4th
2014 595,493 23.7% +14.5 1st
  
Balearic Islands
Date Votes Size
# % ±pp
1987 533 0.2% — 16th
1989 458 0.2% ±0.0 *
1994 2,350 0.8% +0.6 8th
1999 20,155 5.6% +4.8 *
2004 7,498 2.9% –2.7 5th
2009 7,651 3.0% +0.1 4th
2014 19,602 7.3% +4.3 5th

See also

References

  1. ↑ Robert Tugas: ERC, un partit que creix en vots però no en militants. Ara, 13/03/2016.
  2. ↑ Guibernau, Montserrat (2004), Catalan Nationalism: Francoism, transition and democracy, Routledge, p. 82
  3. 1 2 Hargreaves, John (2000), Freedom for Catalonia?: Catalan Nationalism, Spanish Identity and the Barcelona Olympic Games, Cambridge University Press, p. 84
  4. ↑ Buffery, Helena; Marcer, Elisenda (2011), Historical Dictionary of the Catalans, Scarecrow Press, p. 198
  5. ↑ Paluzie, Elisenda (2010), "The costs and benefits of staying together: the Catalan case in Spain", The Political Economy of Inter-Regional Fiscal Flows: Measurement, Determinants and Effects on Country Stability, Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 367
  6. ↑ Hooghe, Liesbet; Marks, Gary; Schakel, Arjan H. (2010), The Rise of Regional Authority: A Comparative Study of 42 Democracies, Routledge, p. 194
  7. ↑ Schrijver, Frans (2006), Regionalism After Regionalisation: Spain, France and the United Kingdom, Vossiuspers, Amsterdam University Press, p. 112
  8. ↑ McLaren, Lauren M. (2008), Constructing Democracy in Southern Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Italy, Spain, and Turkey, Routledge, p. 184
  9. ↑ Roller, Elisa (2004), "Conflict and Cooperation in EU Policy-Making: The Case of Catalonia", The EU and Territorial Politics Within Member States: Conflict Or Co-Operation?, Brill, p. 80
  10. ↑ Alonso, Sonia (2012), Challenging the State: Devolution and the Battle for Partisan Credibility, Oxford University Press, p. 77
  11. ↑ Ramiro, Luis; Morales, Laura (2007), "European integration and Spanish parties: Elite empowerment amidst limited adaptation", The Europeanization of National Political Parties: Power and organizational adaptation, Routledge, p. 146
  12. ↑ Moreno, Luis; Colino, César (2010), "Kingdom of Spain", Diversity and Unity in Federal Countries, McGill-Queen's University Press, p. 299
  13. ↑ "ERC diferencia el seu republicanisme del del PDC". El Món. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  14. ↑ "PONÈNCIA POLÍTICA 27è Congrés Nacional" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  15. ↑ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Catalonia/Spain". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  16. ↑ Guibernau, Montserrat (2004), Catalan Nationalism: Francoism, transition and democracy, Routledge, p. 82
  17. ↑ Face to Face - Interview with Oriol Junqueras (leader of Catalan Republican Left). PressTV News Videos. YouTube. Timestamp 5:45 - 5:52. Published 18 December 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  18. ↑ https://www.esquerra.cat/ca/una-republica-catalana-en-una-europa-federal
  19. ↑ Catalan trial turns into pro-independence show of force. Politico. Author - Diego Torres. Published 2 February 2017. Updated 9 February 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  20. ↑ Catalan separatists projected to win snap election. Al Jazeera. Published 21 December 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  21. ↑ Jaume Ribas Vilanova. "En un país normal, una socialdemocràcia normal". LaColumna.cat.
  22. ↑ jaume. "Junqueras dice que CiU y PSC son "la vieja política" rendida al poder". El Periódico.
  23. ↑ Jaume Renyer Alimbau, ERC: temps de transició. Per una esquerra forta, renovadora i plural (Barcelona: Cossetània, 2008).
  24. ↑ "The Battle for Spain" Beevor (2006) p.25
  25. 1 2 Dades electorals detallades de les Eleccions Locals 2011, arxiu històric electora, accessed 28 November 2012
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