Catalonia doubts linger as Puidgemont's restoration as president fails
The Catalan parliament postponed the vote to reinstall Carles Puigdemont as president on Wednesday, plunging Catalonia back into renewed political uncertainty and the potential search for a new candidate.
After the December elections where the pro-independence parties formed a ruling coalition, a deadline was set for 31 January to vote for the reinstatement of previous President Puigdemont of the Generalitat. However this vote was postponed at the last minute.
Leader of the parliament, Roger Torrent, has put the Catalan situation on pause by not voting for Puigdemont but without calling off the vote either. He has also stated that he will not try to look for another candidate and will still support Puigdemont's rights. This deadlock means the parliament won’t be dissolved but Puigdemont, who is in exile in Brussels, is still unlikely return to the presidency.
After the session in parliament, a number of text messages from Puigdemont to Toni Comín, health ex-councillor have been brought to light where the ex-president said the independence movement "is finished" and that he "has been sacrificed by the party”.
The former President that he hopes that his sacrifice will at least ensure his colleagues are released from prison. Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sánchez and Joaquim Forn are still under lock and key after supporting the unilateral declaration of independence.
He later seemed to have an about-turn on Twitter, saying "there are times that I also have doubts. I am also the President and I will not give up or back off".
If this is true and he does not back off there will be an institutional deadlock and new elections could be called by Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy, with another battle with Puigdemont potentially fanning the flames of pro-independence voters once again.