Republican Left of Catalonia

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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[citation needed]
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 ten seats (fifth largest group by seats) in the Spanish Parliament and three seats in the European Parliament.

History

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Portrait of ca (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[citation needed] in collaboration with Vichy France, returned to Spain and executed in 1940.[citation needed]

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
Increase56 #1 Majority gov't Francesc Macià
1980 241,711 8.9% New
14 / 135
Increase14 #5 Gov't support Heribert Barrera
1984 126,971 4.4% Decrease4.5
5 / 135
Decrease9 #5 Coalition gov't
CiU-ERC		 Heribert Barrera
1988 111,647 4.1% Decrease0.3
6 / 135
Increase1 #5 Opposition Joan Hortalà
1992 210,366 8.0% Increase3.9
11 / 135
Increase5 #3 Opposition Àngel Colom
1995 305,867 9.4% Increase1.4
13 / 135
Increase2 #5 Opposition Àngel Colom
1999 271,173 8.7% Decrease0.7
12 / 135
Decrease1 #4 Opposition Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira
2003 544,324 16.4% Increase7.7
23 / 135
Increase11 #3 Coalition gov't
PSC-ERC-ICV		 Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira
2006 416,355 14.0% Decrease2.4
21 / 135
Decrease2 #3 Coalition gov't
PSC-ERC-ICV		 Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira
2010 219,173 7.0% Decrease7.0
10 / 135
Decrease11 #5 Opposition Joan Puigcercós
2012 498,124 13.7% Increase6.7
21 / 135
Increase11 #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
Decrease7 in opposition
1936 4.1 (#5) 33.2 (#1)
21 / 473
Increase4 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
Decrease1 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
Increase1 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
Increase7 in opposition
2008 298,139 1.2 (#7) 7.8 (#4)
3 / 350
Decrease5 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
Increase6

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
Decrease55
1987 74,700 2.5 (#6)
185 / 8,186
Increase30
1991 91,995 3.4 (#5)
228 / 8,328
Increase43
1995 203,053 6.3 (#5)
526 / 8,426
Increase298
1999 224,955 7.7 (#5)
676 / 8,497
Increase150
2003 414,549 12.8 (#3)
1,278 / 8,690
Increase602
2007 334,923 11.7 (#3)
1,580 / 8,932
Increase302
2011 257,705 9.0 (#4)
1,377 / 9,132
Decrease203
2015 510,137 16.4 (#3)
2,384 / 9,077
Increase1,007

See also

References

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External links

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  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
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