Republican Left of Catalonia

Republican Left of Catalonia Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
President	Oriol Junqueras i Vies
Secretary-General	Marta Rovira i Vergés
Founded	March 19, 1931
Headquarters	C/Calàbria, 166 08015 Barcelona, Spain
Ideology	Catalan nationalism[1][2] Catalan independence[3][4][5][6][7][8] Left-wing nationalism[9][10][11] Democratic socialism[12] Republicanism
Political position	Left-wing[13][14]
European affiliation	European Free Alliance
European Parliament group	The Greens–European Free Alliance
Colours	Orange
Congress of Deputies	9 / 350
Spanish Senate	8 / 264
European Parliament	2 / 54
Parliament of Catalonia	62 / 135
Town councillors in Catalonia	2,384 / 9,077
Town councillors in the Balearic Islands	16 / 925
Website
www.esquerra.cat
Politics of Catalonia Political parties Elections

The Republican Left of Catalonia (Catalan: Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; IPA: [əsˈkɛrə rəpubːɫiˈkanə ðə kətəˈɫuɲə]) is a left-wing, Catalan nationalist political party in Catalonia.^[15] 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.

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 Catalan parliamentary election of 2010 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 the Catalan countries, it has three seats (fifth largest group by seats) in the Spanish Parliament and two seats in the European Parliament.

History

Portrait of Pere Mestres i Albet (1901-1975), professor of electrical expert, founder of ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia), Minister of Interior of the Government of Catalonia (October, 1933 - December, 1933) and Public Works and Health (1933-1936).

Led by Francesc Macià and Lluís Companys, the party had done extremely well in the municipal elections of April 1931. On the day the election results were announced, they declared Catalonia would become an independent republic within a federal state. This was not exactly what had been agreed in the Pact of San Sebastián, so later that month they negotiated with the Madrid government that Macià would become president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.^[16]

In 1934, led by Lluís Companys, the elected Catalan President, the party declared an independent Catalan Republic within the Spanish Federation proposed by Companys, following the entry of right-wing ministers of the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) into the Government of the Spanish Republic, however the party leaders (including Companys) and all the Catalan Government (called Generalitat) were arrested and jailed for this, and special autonomy laws for Catalonia were suspended until 1936.

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

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 in 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^[17] and 6 councillors in the Valencian Community.^[18]

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 i Vies (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-)

Election results

Parliament of Catalonia

Parliament of Catalonia
Election	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−	Rank	Government	Leader
1932	224,800	47.1%	New	56 / 85	56	#1	Majority gov't	Francesc Macià
1980	241,711	8.9%	New	14 / 135	14	#5	Gov't support	Heribert Barrera
1984	126,971	4.4%	4.5	5 / 135	9	#5	Coalition gov't CiU-ERC	Heribert Barrera
1988	111,647	4.1%	0.3	6 / 135	1	#5	Opposition	Joan Hortalà
1992	210,366	8.0%	3.9	11 / 135	5	#3	Opposition	Àngel Colom
1995	305,867	9.4%	1.4	13 / 135	2	#5	Opposition	Àngel Colom
1999	271,173	8.7%	0.7	12 / 135	1	#4	Opposition	Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira
2003	544,324	16.4%	7.7	23 / 135	11	#3	Coalition gov't PSC-ERC-ICV	Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira
2006	416,355	14.0%	2.4	21 / 135	2	#3	Coalition gov't PSC-ERC-ICV	Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira
2010	219,173	7.0%	7.0	10 / 135	11	#5	Opposition	Joan Puigcercós
2012	498,124	13.7%	6.7	21 / 135	11	#2	Gov't support	Oriol Junqueras
2015	w. Together for Yes			62 / 135		#1	Coalition gov't CDC-ERC-Independents	Oriol Junqueras

Congress of Deputies

Congress of Deputies
Election	Votes	%	% Cat.	Seats	+/–	Parliament
1931		6.7 (#5)	53.0 (#1)	24 / 470		in opposition
1933		3.7 (#7)	31.0 (#2)	17 / 472	7	in opposition
1936		4.1 (#5)	33.2 (#1)	21 / 473	4	in opposition
1977	143,954	0.8 (#10)	4.7 (#6)	1 / 350		in opposition
1979	123,452	0.7 (#13)	4.2 (#5)	1 / 350	±0	in opposition
1982	138,118	0.7 (#9)	4.0 (#5)	1 / 350	±0	in opposition
1986	84,628	0.4 (#12)	2.7 (#6)	0 / 350	1	N/A
1989	84,756	0.4 (#16)	2.7 (#6)	0 / 350	±0	N/A
1993	189,632	0.8 (#9)	5.1 (#5)	1 / 350	1	in opposition
1996	167,641	0.7 (#9)	4.2 (#5)	1 / 350	±0	in opposition
2000	194,715	0.8 (#9)	5.6 (#4)	1 / 350	±0	in opposition
2004	652,196	2.5 (#5)	15.9 (#3)	8 / 350	7	in opposition
2008	298,139	1.2 (#7)	7.8 (#4)	3 / 350	5	in opposition
2011	256,985	1.1 (#8)	7.1 (#5)	3 / 350	±0	in opposition
2015	599,289	2.4 (#5)	16.0 (#2)	9 / 350	6

Local councils

Local councils
Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
1979	103,547	3.9 (#5)	210 / 8,223
1983	84,984	2.9 (#5)	155 / 8,199	55
1987	74,700	2.5 (#6)	185 / 8,186	30
1991	91,995	3.4 (#5)	228 / 8,328	43
1995	203,053	6.3 (#5)	526 / 8,426	298
1999	224,955	7.7 (#5)	676 / 8,497	150
2003	414,549	12.8 (#3)	1,278 / 8,690	602
2007	334,923	11.7 (#3)	1,580 / 8,932	302
2011	257,705	9.0 (#4)	1,377 / 9,132	203
2015	510,137	16.4 (#3)	2,384 / 9,077	1,007

See also

• List of political parties in Catalonia
• Young Republican Left of Catalonia
• Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia

References

1. Guibernau, Montserrat (2004), Catalan Nationalism: Francoism, transition and democracy, Routledge, p. 82
2. Hargreaves, John (2000), Freedom for Catalonia?: Catalan Nationalism, Spanish Identity and the Barcelona Olympic Games, Cambridge University Press, p. 84
3. Buffery, Helena; Marcer, Elisenda (2011), Historical Dictionary of the Catalans, Scarecrow Press, p. 198
4. 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
5. Hooghe, Liesbet; Marks, Gary; Schakel, Arjan H. (2010), The Rise of Regional Authority: A Comparative Study of 42 Democracies, Routledge, p. 194
6. Schrijver, Frans (2006), Regionalism After Regionalisation: Spain, France and the United Kingdom, Vossiuspers, Amsterdam University Press, p. 112
7. McLaren, Lauren M. (2008), Constructing Democracy in Southern Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Italy, Spain, and Turkey, Routledge, p. 184
8. 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
9. Alonso, Sonia (2012), Challenging the State: Devolution and the Battle for Partisan Credibility, Oxford University Press, p. 77
10. 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
11. Moreno, Luis; Colino, César (2010), "Kingdom of Spain", Diversity and Unity in Federal Countries (McGill-Queen's University Press), p. 299
12. Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe". http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/spain.html. Retrieved 2015-05-30. External link in |publisher= (help)
13. Jaume Ribas Vilanova. "En un país normal, una socialdemocràcia normal". LaColumna.cat.
14. jaume. "Junqueras dice que CiU y PSC son "la vieja política" rendida al poder". El Periódico.
15. Jaume Renyer Alimbau, ERC: temps de transició. Per una esquerra forta, renovadora i plural (Barcelona: Cossetània, 2008).
16. "The Battle for Spain" Beevor (2006) p.25
17. Dades electorals detallades de les Eleccions Locals 2011, arxiu històric electora, accessed 28 November 2012
18. Dades electorals detallades de les Eleccions Locals 2011, arxiu històric electora, accessed 28 November 2012

External links

• Site of the party (Catalan)
• Ideological declaration (English) (PDF)
• ERC’s brief history (English) (PDF)
• Joventuts de l'Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya Youth section's site (Catalan)