The former ERC deputy in Congress Joan Puig has communicated that he will start a collection of endorsements in a "symbolic" way within the primary process of the republicans for the general elections on November 29. With this gesture, he wants to show his rejection of the party leadership betting again on the current spokesperson of ERC in the Lower House, Gabriel Rufián, as the head of the list, despite the fact that Rufián has not yet clarified whether he will opt to repeat his candidacy.
In an open letter addressed to the membership, disseminated this Wednesday on "X" and collected by Europa Press, Puig clarifies that he does not intend to open an internal battle nor "burn militants uselessly in a race for access that is almost impossible." He emphasizes that his movement seeks to make clear his disagreement with the strategy of the party's leadership.
"This act has a clear objective: to make clear the huge mistake that the party makes by re-nominating Gabriel Rufián as head of the list to Madrid," Puig states in the text, in which he accuses the republican spokesperson of maintaining ideological positions closer to the Spanish left than to Catalan sovereignty.
Furthermore, he reproaches him for having stopped using Catalan in Congress and for having abandoned "the territory he formally committed to visit," which, in his opinion, demonstrates that his continuity at the head of the candidacy is not a valid option for the future of the party.
Criticism of the endorsement system and "bureaucratic obstacles"
In his letter, Puig also criticizes the internal model of ERC for the collection of endorsements, reproaching that the procedure is not fully telematic, something he claims to have proposed at the last congress of the formation and which, he recalls, was approved by the membership.
"Without having the approval of the party apparatus, it is materially impossible to collect 385 endorsements in just six days, counting a weekend in between, through the manual route or complex digital certificate systems," he laments, denouncing that the system de facto hinders the emergence of alternative candidacies.
"BUREAUCRATIC OBSTACLES"
According to Puig, these "bureaucratic obstacles only serve to shield the official candidate," which is why he announces that he will not ask for support from other militants and will formalize his proposal with a single endorsement, his own. He explains that he resorts to this route to express his disagreement with the current direction of the formation.
"I use this legal mechanism to say enough. ERC must change course, listen to the territory, and put an end to leaderships that blur us as a national independentist project. Either we fight for independence again or we will be mere fodder for the Spanish left," he concludes in his letter.
The primary calendar in ERC
After the electoral advance, ERC activated this Tuesday the internal procedure to choose its head of list for Congress. The bases establish that those who want to compete to lead the candidacy must gather 5% of endorsements from the total membership by Sunday, or have the support of a third of the executive or a quarter of the members of the Consell Nacional.
If only one person ultimately presents themselves to head the list, they will be proclaimed automatically and no primaries will be held, a process that, if necessary, would extend until October 17. Subsequently, after the territorial congresses and sectoral assemblies, a list of candidates will be configured and, on October 20, the executive will prepare the final list, which must receive the endorsement of the Consell Nacional.