In Poblenou, much has changed over the past four years – not least the advent of a pandemic that has devastated tourism and work-related people – but the people of the traditional working class. barrio in northern Barcelona struggling with a nagging sense of deja vu over Sunday’s regional election.
“All the talk is about independence, but what most of us want from politicians is to solve social problems,” said Nuria Vallejo, a doctor who works in the public sector and has lived in the area for 20 years. “Number one is the health crisis, and then there is the education system and questions about sustainability.”
Poblenou, once the heart of the city’s textile industry that glorified the nickname ‘little Manchester’, is now reinventing itself as a hub for technology ventures.
But like much of the Catalan capital, the region is currently facing the double whammy of the pandemic and its accompanying economic consequences.
When more uncertainty was needed, it came in the form of the election, which again put union members against the apartheid people as the decades-long struggle over Catalan independence rose from simmering to boiling point.
Three and a half years ago, the independent Catalan regional government, led by Carles Puigdemont, defied the repeated warnings from the Spanish government and courts by holding an illegal, one-sided independence referendum.
The vote was violated by a violent and heavy response from police officers sent to the region by the Spanish government to stop the vote. Three weeks later, independent members of the Catalan parliament issued a unilateral declaration of independence, asking the Spanish government to use the constitution to take direct control of the region, dismiss Puigdemont and his government and a speedy regional election. to proclaim for December 2017. Puigdemont fled to Belgium to avoid arrest, but nine of the others involved were jailed for their role in the failed attempt at independence.
Despite the violence that led to the ruling in 2019, the issue of Catalan independence has faded over the past two years amid growing divisions between separatist factions.
Polls this time point to a close race for first place in the region between the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), which opposes independence, the independent Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the similar separatists Together for Catalonia.
The election could also lead to the far-right Vox party conquering its conservative rivals to win its first seats in the regional parliament.
However, if there is one thing residents agree on, it is that they do not get too excited about any of the candidates being offered, and have little confidence in their ability to address the issues they are dealing with.
“The poor quality of politicians in this country is really worrying,” said Pere Nieto, a 53-year-old primary school teacher and a lifelong resident of Poblenou. “The key issue should be the management of public services, especially health and education and housing,” Nieto adds. “But the debate is about sovereignty.”
Albert Valencia (24) opposed Catalan independence until 1 October 2017 when the Spanish state’s brutal and heavy response to the unilateral referendum hosted by the independent government shocked the country and the rest of the world. Although the day’s events have changed their minds, Valencia will soon see little prospect of independence for the region.
“There was never really a plan,” he says. “We are supposed to believe that we only had to vote in the referendum, but it is not that simple. We were all a little naive. And the independent parties in this election also have no plan. ”
Salvador Illa, who stepped down as Spanish health minister to run for the PSC for the presidency, has vowed to do his best to heal the divided region if he wins – or, as he puts it, Catalonia reunites’.
But even if the PSC ends first, the formation of the triangular left-wing government increasingly looks like a pipe dream. The local branch of Podemos is unlikely to be able to win enough seats, while the ERC has joined other independent parties to sign a pledge not to help the Socialists in their office.
The wedge issue, predictably enough, is independence, which continues to divide the region and its politicians. A recent survey found that 47.7% of Catalans are against independence, and 44.5% are in favor.
But José Pablo Ferrándiz, lead researcher at polling station Metroscopia, says independence is a less urgent issue for most voters. When asked what the new regional government’s priorities should be, only a third said it should be the Catalan independence process – and it was actually more under Together for Catalonia and [anti-capitalist] “Cup voters as ERC voters – so there is division within the independence movement,” he says.
“The biggest concern among voters – pro-independence and anti-independence – is the economic situation and the handling of the pandemic. They cut across the voting groups. This time, independence is a secondary issue. ”
And yet it remains at the top of the political agenda for the parties that are independent. The ERC, which favors a moderate, gradual approach to independence, once again buried its differences with Together for Catalonia, whose strategy was one of confrontation and maintaining tensions with the central government over the issue on national and international radar. to hold and hold his followers.
One of the deciding factors in Sunday’s election is the turnout. Some union voters are likely to stay at home on the assumption that independence was not the red-hot issue it was four years ago, while others may have the aversion to leaving home to do their ballots because of Covid. Pro-independence voters, on the other hand, tend to come out in large numbers.
Another important factor is the continuing decline of the center-right civic party.
The 2017 election, called by the then Conservative government after taking control of Catalonia following the unilateral declaration of independence, was a triumph for the citizens.
The clear and tough opposition of the party against the secession maneuver paid off, and the citizens won the largest number of seats, but could not gain the necessary support to form a government in Catalonia, leaving the region in the hands of the parties for independence late.
Today, Citizens are a shadow of what it was then. The shift to the right – and the decision to oppose the vote of no confidence that drove the Socialists in the national government amid public outrage over the corruption scandals surrounding the previous Conservative People’s Party (PP) government – has cost dearly Came.
The question now is where his voters are going. As Berta Barbet, a political scientist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, notes, ‘the anti-independence movement has a new party – Vox’.
The far-right party, the third largest in the national parliament, is benefiting from disgruntled Citizens supporters, and also from the scandals that continue to plague their opponents on the right. Earlier this week, former Popular Party (PP) treasurer Luis Bárcenas appeared in court as part of another corruption trial over the party’s illegal finances.
“A big party and one that wants to rule Spain cannot afford to do really badly in a region like Catalonia,” says Ferrándiz. But he stresses that although Vox is on its way to entering the Catalan parliament for the first time – and may even overtake the PP – that everything is relative.
“Vox will not do so well either, but they will undoubtedly sell winning seats in Catalonia and win the PP as a big victory.”
The bigger picture is harder to predict. The parties for independence could again retain their majority, or the socialists could break through.
‘[But] the numbers show that it would be very difficult for Illa to become president, ”says Barbet. “Even if they eventually win the most votes, the price the PSC will pay for it will weaken the base of potential coalition partners and form a government.”
Although the votes will increase rapidly, she adds: ‘the transactions can take much longer’. Such horse-trading is hardly new in Spanish or Catalan politics.
But the fact that nine parties are contesting Sunday’s election points, perhaps in the direction of a continuing upsurge among voters, which first appeared a few years ago with the eruption of Podemos and Citizens – an ailment exacerbated by the pandemic.
“We are in a period of collapse and as a society we need to learn how to survive, and I do not think the political parties are capable of solving these problems,” Albert Valencia said.
“We need to take them to the streets and find ways to help each other.”