Junts pel Sí (; en, "Together for Yes", sometimes translated as "Together for the Yes"; JxSí) was a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

electoral An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has oper ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

and parliamentary alliance focused on achieving the independence of Catalonia from Spain. Established ahead of the 2015 Catalan regional election, it was formed by

Democratic Convergence of Catalonia The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia ( ca, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya; , CDC), frequently shortened as Convergence ( ca, Convergència; ) was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain), currently still exis ...

(CDC),

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social-democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also ...

(ERC), Democrats of Catalonia (DC),

Left Movement Left Movement ( ca, Moviment d'Esquerres, MES) is a social-democratic, pro-independence political party in Catalonia. The party was founded in November 2014 from the merger of New Catalan Left (NECat) and Catalonia Movement (Moviment Catalunya), ...

(MES) and Independence Rally (RI.cat), as well as a number of

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

personalities from pro-independence sectors of

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Catalan National Assembly The Assemblea Nacional Catalana ("Catalan National Assembly"; ANC by its Catalan acronym) is an organization that seeks the political independence of Catalonia from Spain. It also promotes the independence of other Catalan-speaking regions, whic ...

, Òmnium and the

Association of Municipalities for Independence The Association of Municipalities for Independence ( ca, Associació de Municipis per la Independència) is a Catalan organization of town councils and other administration entities created with the goal of achieving the independence of Catalonia. ...

. The Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) had been invited to participate in the alliance, but refused to do so and ran on its own instead, citing its disagreement with the presence of politicians in the list. The constituent parties of JxSí formed a minority government after the 2015 election with confidence and supply support from the CUP, and it was responsible for organising the

2017 Catalan independence referendum An independence referendum was held on 1 October 2017 in the Autonomous communities of Spain, Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, passed by the Parliament of Catalonia as the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia and cal ...

and overseeing the subsequent

constitutional crisis In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variations to this ...

that it sparked. On 4 November 2017, ERC chose not to renew the alliance with the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT)—CDC's successor—for the 2017 Catalan regional election, having conditioned such event on it having been joined by the CUP, DC and disaffected members from

Catalunya en Comú Catalunya en Comú ( en, "Catalonia in Common", CatEnComú or CatComú), previously Un País en Comú ( en, "A Country in Common") and collectively dubbed as Comuns ( en, Commons), is a Catalan-based political party established in December 2016 as ...

, a hypothesis which did not materialize.

History

Background

Prospects for the establishment of a unitary electoral list comprising the major pro-Catalan independence forces kicked off following the events of 2012, namely the 11 September independence demonstration in Barcelona, the 25 November regional election and the subsequent confidence and supply agreement between Convergence and Union (CiU)—the party federation comprising

(CDC) and

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

(ERC) following Catalan president

Artur Mas Artur Mas i Gavarró (; born 31 January 1956) is a Spanish politician from Catalonia. He was president of the Government of Catalonia from 2010 to 2015 and acting president from September 2015 to 12 January 2016. Mas is a long time member of ...

's failure to secure an extended parliamentary majority in the election. Throughout 2013, CiU and ERC considered forming an electoral alliance of parties supporting

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...

for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

, a proposal that also received the support of minor parties such as

Ernest Maragall Ernest Maragall i Mira (born 5 January 1943, in Barcelona) is a Spanish economist, politician, member of the Parliament of Catalonia and former Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency of Catalonia. He was previousl ...

's New Catalan Left (NECat). The list did not materialize because of its rejection by

Initiative for Catalonia Greens Initiative for Catalonia Greens ( ca, Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds, ICV; ) was an eco-socialist political party in Catalonia. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialis ...

(ICV) and the reluctance of ERC and UDC. The issue of the unitary list rose up again in 2014, being proposed by CDC within the context of the self-determination vote on 9 November and discussions about holding a "plebiscitary" regional election at some point during the next year. The idea was rejected by ERC and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), who demanded a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

, but President Mas replied by pressuring them into a national unity candidacy as a necessary condition for calling an early election. Mas attempted to look for independents from the

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Jordi Pujol. Contacts were established by both CDC and ERC with the pro-independence civil organizations

Catalan National Assembly The Assemblea Nacional Catalana ("Catalan National Assembly"; ANC by its Catalan acronym) is an organization that seeks the political independence of Catalonia from Spain. It also promotes the independence of other Catalan-speaking regions, whic ...

(or ANC) and Òmnium to probe their willingness to have their members join their candidacies ahead of such a plebiscitary election. Some media outlets and political actors also attributed CDC's insistence on the joint list proposal to "Mas's fears of losing re-election" to ERC, amid opinion polling showing both parties vying for victory in an eventual regional election; these rumours were cast off by CDC members defending that Mas was "not afraid" of running on his own, but that his plan still contemplated the establishment of such an electoral alliance with him at its helm. On the other hand, ERC advocated for all pro-independence parties agreeing on a common election manifesto and maintaining separate electoral lists but under a common umbrella, such as using the electoral formulas ERC–Ara es l'hora and CiU–Ara es l'hora (

for "Now is the time"). Finally on 14 January 2015, Mas announced that he had reached an agreement with ERC to hold a "plebiscitary" election on 27 September—turned into an alternative vote on independence—with parties supporting self-determination including independence as a goal in their manifestos and with the issue of the unitary list still up.

CiU breakup and negotiations

In the lead up to the 27 September election, tensions heightened between CDC and UDC over their stances on Catalan independence, which the former favoured and the latter opposed, as well as on the issue of the unitary list with ERC, to which UDC had never voiced support. As a result, UDC announced that it would hold a vote among its membership following the May 2015 local elections on whether it should keep supporting Mas's independence plan, intending to strengthen its negotiating position and force CDC to slow down its independentist drift. The vote was held on 14 June, resulting in a narrow 51–46 win for the "No" choice supported by the UDC leadership which weakened its position, leading to CDC issuing an ultimatum to UDC to commit itself to the independence plan. UDC's rejection led his members stepping down from Mas's cabinet, as well as to the breakup of the historical CiU alliance which had dominated Catalan politics since the 1980s. Concurrently, UDC's stance would lead to a schism within its ranks, seeing the foundation of Democrats of Catalonia (DC) by UDC members supportive of independence. The termination of the CiU federation allowed Mas to fully embrace his plan of forming a unitary list ahead of the September election, concerned on the weakening of the CDC brand after the CiU's negative results in the May local elections had seen it losing control of

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 c ...

to Podemos's supported

Ada Colau Ada Colau Ballano (; ; born 3 March 1974) is a Spanish activist and politician who is the current Mayor of Barcelona. On 13 June 2015 she was elected Mayor of Barcelona, the first woman to hold the office, as part of the citizen municipalist pla ...

and her

Barcelona en Comú Barcelona en Comú ( Catalan for "Barcelona in Common") is a citizen platform launched in June 2014 that is currently governing in minority in the City of Barcelona. Its policy agenda includes defending social justice and community rights, promoti ...

platform. He engaged in talks with ANC and Òmnium to pressure ERC into finally accepting the alliance, which he proposed would not be topped by him but would rather see the leaders of the civil entities comprising the leading posts in the candidacy's lists. However, the ANC and Òmnium pushed for an independent list without politicians, a proposal which was well-received by the CUP—which announced their willingness to support such an electoral ticket on the condition that a " constituent election" was held within few months—and subsequently supported by ERC in an attempt to outmaneuver CDC and to put Mas's plan on jeopardy, who did not foresee an electoral list which he was not a member of. After long negotiations, a CDC–ERC agreement was finally announced on 13 July for a list comprising both politicians and independents from civil society. The agreement, subsequently approved by the leaderships of both parties, provided that the main list for the

constituency would be led by three independent personalities—former ICV member and MEP Raül Romeva, former ANC president

Carme Forcadell Maria Carme Forcadell i Lluís (born 29 May 1955) is a Spanish politician from Catalonia. She is the former President of the Parliament of Catalonia, as well as a Catalan high school teacher, known for her Catalan independence activism. She wa ...

and Òmnium chairwoman Muriel Casals—followed by Artur Mas and Oriol Junqueras. Both CDC and ERC agreed that they would distribute politician-reserved posts among themselves at a 60–40 ratio, respectively, with the agreement also providing for Mas to remain the alliance's choice for president, even though he would not be topping the electoral ticket as a result of the power balance achieved by the parties during the negotiations. Places were also reserved in the list for DC and

(MES), as well as for other pro-independence organizations—such as the

—and non-party personalities. The final agreement, as well as former ICV Romeva's pick up to top the list, were said to have been motivated out of opinion polls showing a strong performance by both Podemos and

Citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

in the 27 September election. The CUP eventually chose to run separately after its proposal for an independent-only had fallen out of favour. The candidacy was publicly presented on 20 July 2015, and its name revealed to be ''Junts pel Sí'' ( en, "Together for Yes").

Composition

Electoral performance

Parliament of Catalonia

Symbols

File:Junts pel Si teal.png, Teal logo. File:Junts pel Si purple.png, Purple logo. File:Junts pel Si red.png, Red logo. File:Junts pel Si yellow.png, Yellow logo.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Junts pel Sí 2015 establishments in Catalonia 2017 disestablishments in Catalonia Defunct political party alliances in Spain Defunct political parties in Catalonia Political parties established in 2015 Political parties disestablished in 2017