Rufián has been waiting three days for a response from ERC to his conditions to continue as a deputy.

According to the Statutes of Esquerra Republicana approved in 2025, the functions of the party president are set out in Article 73, “Presidency”. This provision establishes the Presidency as the highest institutional representation of Esquerra Republicana and details a set of political, organizational, and external relations competencies that place this position at the apex of the party's leadership, although always subject to the control of collective bodies.

Firstly, the article establishes that the Presidency holds the highest institutional representation of the party. This means that the person holding the Presidency is the main voice of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) before institutions, other parties, and public opinion, and symbolically embodies the political project of the organization. It is not just a ceremonial function: it is the political reference that projects ERC's position in major strategic debates.

Associated with this representative function, the statutes state that the Presidency ensures the regular functioning of the party's bodies. In practice, this implies supervising that bodies such as the National Congress, the National Council, the National Executive, and other statutory spaces meet, work, and make decisions according to internal rules and democratically defined political lines. The Presidency thus acts as a guarantor of proper organizational coordination.

Article 73 also specifies that the Presidency has the competence to lead Esquerra Republicana. This leadership function encompasses the general political orientation of the party, the definition of strategic priorities, and the coordination of the leadership's actions, always within the framework set by the National Congress and the National Council. The Presidency does not replace these bodies but guides the general line and articulates the organization's response to complex political situations.

An important element of internal balance is the obligation to report to the National Council. The statutes provide that the Presidency must present to this body – the highest instance between congresses – an evaluation of its management. Thus, the presidential figure is not an autonomous power but is subject to supervision and control by a broader representative body, which can correct or redirect the leadership's actions if deemed necessary.

On the organizational level, the provision grants the Presidency the competence to convene congresses and national conferences. The decision to initiate a congress process, which is the key moment for debate, renewal of positions, and updating political lines, is formally articulated through this power. Similarly, it is the Presidency's responsibility to convene and preside over the National Executive and the National Permanent Committee, the bodies of daily leadership, giving it a central role in setting the agenda, conducting meetings, and making executive decisions.

Another notable competence is to maintain relations with other political and social organizations. The statutes entrust the Presidency with leading external dialogue: conversations with other parties (in Catalonia, the State, or internationally), relations with social, union, cultural, or civic entities, and, in general, everything related to alliances and ERC's projection in its political and social ecosystem. This function is particularly relevant in contexts of parliamentary negotiation or building common fronts.

Consistent with all the above, Article 73 indicates that the Presidency must ensure the party's actions in all areas. This is a broad clause that reinforces the supervisory and coherence role: the Presidency must ensure that Esquerra Republicana's political, institutional, municipal, sectoral, or international practice remains aligned with its ideological principles, strategic agreements, and congress resolutions.

Finally, the statutes specify that the legal representation of the party does not correspond exclusively to the Presidency but is exercised jointly with the General Secretariat and the person responsible for finances of the National Executive. This design seeks to distribute responsibilities in areas such as signing agreements, legal representation, or asset management, avoiding excessive concentration of power and strengthening control and shared responsibility mechanisms within the party's leadership.

In summary, from reading Article 73 of the 2025 Statutes, it follows that the Presidency of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya concentrates political leadership, the highest institutional representation, the convening and presidency of the main leadership bodies, external dialogue, and supervision of internal functioning, all under the premise of accountability before the National Council and the shared exercise of legal representation with other Executive members.

In Spain, there is no “primary law” that details how endorsements must be collected or how primaries should be organized within parties. What exists is a very general constitutional and legal framework that sets principles (internal democracy, rights of members, organizational autonomy) and, within it, a very broad statutory freedom for each party to regulate its internal procedures.

1. General constitutional and legal framework

From the Constitution, the key points are:

• Article 6 of the Constitution defines parties as fundamental instruments of political participation and requires that their internal structure and functioning be democratic.
• Article 22 recognizes the freedom of association, from which derives the broad organizational autonomy of parties, always within respect for the Constitution and the law.

On this basis, the Organic Law of Political Parties (LOPP) develops two ideas:

• It requires parties to have statutes that regulate their organization, bodies, membership regime, rights and duties of militants, and procedures for electing leaders and candidates.
• It demands respect for minimum internal democracy and pluralism, so that neither statutory rules nor their application can be arbitrary or discriminatory.

In contrast, the LOREG (electoral law) focuses on general, regional, local, and European elections and on how parties present candidacies to the electoral administration. It does not regulate in detail internal primary processes nor the collection of endorsements within parties.

2. Statutory autonomy in primaries and endorsements

Within this framework, the specific design of primaries – and of endorsements to run – is, in practice, a matter of statutory and regulatory autonomy of each party. It is usually regulated in:

• The party's general statutes.
• Specific regulations on primaries or congresses and conferences.

These internal texts set, among other things, the following elements:

a) Candidacy requirements and endorsements

• Who can run: usually a certain condition is required (member, militant, in some cases sympathizer) and requirements such as minimum seniority in the party or being up to date with fees.
• Endorsements: the statutes specify if to be a candidate one must gather endorsements from:
  • A number or percentage of members.
  • Certain bodies or territorial groups.
  The legal key is that this endorsement threshold, although it can be demanding, is not so disproportionate as to empty internal democracy by effectively preventing real competition between candidacies.
• Deadlines, forms, and guarantees: how and when endorsements are submitted, whether they are nominative or secret, if endorsing more than one candidacy is allowed, mechanisms to verify authenticity, etc.

b) Electorate and development of primaries

• Who votes: each party defines if primaries are:
  • Closed: only militants (and sometimes members of certain sectoral organizations).
  • Open: extended to registered sympathizers or other groups defined by the party.
  In any case, equal treatment must be guaranteed within each category (no arbitrary exclusions).
• Internal campaign rules: access to registers, use of party resources, debate spaces, spending limits, etc., reinforcing equal opportunities among candidacies.
• Voting and counting: the vote must be, as a rule, personal and secret, and the count subject to independent bodies within the party, with minutes and sufficient internal publicity to allow control.

c) Control and appeal bodies

• Statutes usually provide for guarantee commissions or equivalent bodies responsible for overseeing the cleanliness of the process, resolving claims about endorsements, registers, candidacy proclamations, or voting incidents.
• There must be an internal appeals system (deadlines, standing, procedure) so members can challenge decisions they consider contrary to statutes or internal democracy principles.
• Once internal channels are exhausted, affected parties can go to the ordinary jurisdiction, especially when alleging violations of fundamental rights related to political participation and equal treatment.

3. Limits to party autonomy

In summary, the regulation of endorsements and primaries is, above all, autonomous and statutory, but framed by:

• The duty of democratic structure and functioning of parties.
• Respect for basic rights of members and equality, avoiding merely exclusionary or discriminatory filters or endorsements.
• The requirement of clear, predictable, and controllable procedures, with guarantee bodies and real possibilities of appeal.

Within these limits, each party can opt for more open or more restricted primary models, with higher or lower endorsement requirements, as long as the overall result is compatible with the idea of internal democracy demanded by the Constitution.

In the last general elections held in Spain, on July 23, 2023 (23J), Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) obtained a clearly worse result than in the previous 2019 election, although it maintained significant presence in the Congress of Deputies.

According to data from consulted sources, ERC achieved in those elections:

• 466,020 votes nationwide.
• This result corresponds approximately to 1.89% of the national vote.
• In Catalonia, its main stronghold, it reached around 13.15% of the votes.
• With that level of support, the party secured a total of 7 deputies in the Congress, all elected from Catalan constituencies.

These 7 seats are the key figure when measuring Esquerra's current weight in the Lower House. They not only determine the party's capacity to influence parliamentary arithmetic but also mark a before and after compared to the previous political cycle. In the November 2019 general elections, ERC had obtained 13 deputies, so the 23J represented a loss of 6 seats. The group's representation was thus reduced to almost half.

The drop in seats is linked to a fall in votes and percentage both nationwide and in Catalonia. Although the figure of 466,020 votes allows ERC to maintain its own parliamentary group and continue being a relevant actor in the bloc of formations operating to the left of the PSOE, the comparison with 2019 reflects less citizen support and a weaker position in parliamentary negotiations.

The 7 republican deputies come exclusively from Catalan constituencies, maintaining the party's clearly territorial profile: Esquerra remains a Catalan force projecting its sovereigntist and social agenda in Congress through a relatively small but cohesive delegation. This delegation has been one of the key supports of Pedro Sánchez's coalition government in the legislature arising from 23J, along with other nationalist and alternative left forces.

The loss of seats also has internal and strategic consequences for ERC. With fewer deputies:

• The number of spokespersons and committee positions accessible to the group is reduced.
• Its capacity to influence key laws alone decreases, forcing closer coordination with other majority forces.
• Pressure increases on the party leadership to review discourse and alliance strategy for future electoral calls.

In strictly quantitative terms, the answer to your question can be summarized as: in the last general elections (July 23, 2023), Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya obtained 466,020 votes and 7 deputies in Congress. Qualitatively, this result consolidates ERC as still an essential force in Spanish politics when seeking progressive majorities, but with less weight than in the previous legislature, which conditions its maneuvering margin in negotiations with the Government and other independentist and left-wing parties.

For more detail on the political context of that result and the composition of the investiture bloc after 23J, you can consult, for example, the analysis by Demócrata in this article, which reviews the seats of ERC and other parliamentary partners.