Palma04/03/2018 00:00
Would the pro-independence parties in Catalonia, which won the elections in the region back in December, get real and try and appoint a leader who is not in jail or on the run. Carles Puigdemont pulled back from a bid for a second term in office last week. In self-imposed exile in Brussels, he said his party would propose a pro-secession campaigner, Jordi Sanchez - currently on remand in a Madrid prison on charges of sedition - as an alternative candidate.
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There are indeed two sides to a story, which makes one ask why the candidate from the winning party isn’t selected, or will they have to agree to some sort of botched up compromise like they did here, where we have someone who has never won an election representing us due to receiving the backing of a party that only managed to gain 14% of the total votes (many from Menorca) , not, one must add, of the total population.
If the pro independence parties propose a candidate that isn't arrested, or under threat of arrest then the effectively accept the legitimacy of the arrests. There are both sides to each story, but it is perfectly possible to view these people as political prisoners or political exiles. It's a very shrewd move to keep picking them as it ensures that this story is never going to be far from the front pages, which I suspect is exactly why they will continue to do so. It would be a bit like Tibetans ditching the Dalai Lama because the occupying Chinese don't like him.