Spanish election campaign starts amid debate between pro-independence parties

The Spanish snap election campaign started on Friday at midnight, with Catalan pro-independence parties still debating their common goals. Left-wing Esquerra Republicana is asking for a "higher price" to support a hypothetical presidential bid of current Spanish PM and Socialist candidate Pedro Sánchez.

Meanwhile, Junts, is warning that they will not give away any vote while far-left CUP states that to support Sánchez, a date and question for a Catalan independence referendum needs to be agreed beforehand. All this debate comes after a huge vote drop during the May 28 local elections to parties in favor of splitting from Spain.

Also, on the pro-independence front, there is PDeCat, this center-right party that wants to recover the old Convergència i Unió policy and who is suggesting that negotiating back and forth with Madrid is better than the independence push.

On the other hand, the Socialists in Catalonia just want to increase the difference between the party and the Conservative People's Party by 15 seats, 5 more than currently. A recent poll gave the party 16-18 seats, doubling ERC's results.

July 23 will see millions of Catalans and Spanish voting to elect their next prime minister, a vote expected for late 2023 but moved earlier by Sánchez himself the day after local ballots. 

While the Socialist leader called for a snap vote, the Catalan president Pere Aragonès urged all residents in Catalonia to make a "democratic common front" to mobilize the vote against the rise of the far-right party Vox. In fact, during the same speech, Aragonès already expected PP and Vox to form a coalition in the country.

Far from pro-independence or remaining in Spain, anti-austerity Sumar-En Comú Podem will have to find its voters in a stretched campaign where many parties encourage residents to vote for the "useful" party.

The vote will expectedly surpass the most mail-in votes record, with some sources confirming to Catalan News that at least two million people will vote by mail.

Spain's four horses

In Spain, the majority of votes will be divided into two parties, the Socialists and the Conservative People's Party. However, far-right Vox and anti-austerity Sumar will be decisive regarding who will the next PM be.

According to polls, both major groups will need the support of other smaller parties, especially Pedro Sánchez, who could have to negotiate with pro-independence parties once again to continue in the post.

In 2019, PM Sánchez needed the support of ERC to become PM, with the group supporting the bid after reaching several deals on organizing meetings to talk about the independence push amid other agreements.