'catalunya sí que es pot'

The number of lists running for the 27-S Catalan elections is lower than the last time around in 2012; dropping from 79 candidacies to the 40 lists running this year. Moreover, there are many new candidacies that have been designed for the occasion according to the historic nature of the elections that will function as a ‘de facto’ plebiscite on independence. For the first time ever, new coalitions have been made and civil society organisations have entered the fray.

Catalan Green-Socialist party ICV and alternative left-wing Podem (the Catalan branch of the Spanish party Podemos),running under the name 'Catalunya Sí que es Pot' (in English, 'Catalonia yes we can'), is a new party designed to run in the 27-S Catalan elections. Its leader, Lluís Rabell, comes from the social and neighbourhood community scene and claims to be the voice of “the social majority that is being silenced by the independence debate” in Catalonia. Regarding Catalonia’s push for independence, ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’ is for “the celebration of an agreed consultation which can be recognised internationally” and, in order to have this, they find it indispensable to “overthrow the Conservative People’s Party (PP) in Spain”.

This year the electoral campaign for the upcoming 27th of September elections starts on the 11th of September, Catalonia’s National Day. In total 40 lists of candidates are running for the Catalan elections, 39 less than in the last elections in 2012, with many of the candidates being newcomers. This reduction in the number of candidacies is due to the creation of unitary lists made up by coalitions between different parties and even civil society organisations in order to have a wider representation in an election that is set to be a ‘de facto’ plebiscite on independence.