United to Advance ( ca, Units per Avançar, Els Units) is a Catalan

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...

and

Christian democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

political party founded in June 2017 by former members of the defunct

Democratic Union of Catalonia The Democratic Union of Catalonia ( ca, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya; , UDC), frequently shortened as Union ( ca, Unió; ), was a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party in the Catalonia region of Spain existing between 1931 and 2017 ...

(UDC) and non- independentist

Catalan nationalist Catalan nationalism is the ideology asserting that the Catalans are a distinct nation. Intellectually, modern Catalan nationalism can be said to have commenced as a political philosophy in the unsuccessful attempts to establish a federal state i ...

s. The party defines itself as moderate Catalan nationalist and opposes

Catalan independence The Catalan independence movement ( ca, independentisme català; Spanish: ''independentismo catalán'') is a social and political movement (with roots in Catalan nationalism) which seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain. The beginnings ...

History

The party, promoted by former members of the extinct

(UDC), was publicly presented in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

on 19 June 2017. In its founding congress held in October 2017, the party proposed forming an electoral platform together with the

Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, PSC–PSOE official acronym) is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain, resulting from the merger of three parties: the Socialist Party of Catalonia ...

(PSC) and other actors from moderate Catalanism opposed to Catalan independence. Units reached an electoral agreement with the PSC ahead of the

2017 Catalan regional election The 2017 Catalan regional election was held on Thursday, 21 December 2017 to elect the 12th Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was called by Spanish prime minist ...

, under which party leader

Ramon Espadaler Ramon Espadaler Parcerisas (born 19 September 1963 in Vic, Catalonia, Spain

would run as the list's third candidate for the

constituency. After the election, the party joined PSC's parliamentary group. The party renewed their alliance with the PSC for of the upcoming

2019 Spanish local elections The 2019 Spanish local elections were held on Sunday, 26 May 2019, to elect all 66,979 councillors in the 8,131 municipalities of Spain and all 1,038 seats in 38 provincial deputations. The elections were held simultaneously with regional elec ...

. Concurrently, it joined the

Coalition for a Solidary Europe Coalition for a Solidary Europe ( es, Coalición por una Europa Solidaria, CEUS) is an electoral list of regionalist parties formed to contest the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain. The list is the de facto successor of the Coalition fo ...

alliance together with the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party (, EAJ ; es, Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV; french: Parti Nationaliste Basque, PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially Basque National Party in English,) was rejected by party members in November 2011. Nonetheless, the party did ...

(PNV),

Canarian Coalition The Canarian Coalition ( es, Coalición Canaria, CC) is a regionalist, Canarian nationalist political party in Spain operating in the Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Span ...

(CCa) and other regionalist political parties in Spain ahead of the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

. As of March 2020, the party was in talks for an electoral alliance ahead of the

2021 Catalan regional election The 2021 Catalan regional election was held on Sunday, 14 February 2021, to elect the 13th/14th Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. After the 2017 election, pro-Catalan ind ...

with "The Country of Tomorrow"

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

, which had split with the

Catalan European Democratic Party The Catalan European Democratic Party ( ca, Partit Demòcrata Europeu Català, PDeCAT, sometimes stylized as PDECat), initially branded as the Catalan Democratic Party ( ca, Partit Demòcrata Català, PDC), is a liberal political party in Spain th ...

(PDeCAT) in September 2019. After the latter established the

Nationalist Party of Catalonia The Nationalist Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit Nacionalista de Catalunya, PNC) is a Catalan nationalist and liberal political party in Catalonia. The party was established on 12 May 2020 by former Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) coordi ...

(PNC), both Els Units and the PNC did not rule out any prospective alliance.

Electoral performance

Parliament of Catalonia

Notes

References

{{reflist 2017 establishments in Catalonia Political parties established in 2017 Catalan nationalist parties Political parties in Catalonia Centrist parties in Spain