ERC launches Rufián campaign under 'Defiéndete' slogan ahead of 29 November vote

Campaign launch and slogan

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) presented its campaign for the 29 November general election on Thursday, 5 November, under the slogan 'Defiéndete'. The party will present itself as the best defence against a government of PP and Vox, and it plans to hold its election night at the Ciutadella campus of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. The campaign opens on Thursday, 12 November with a rally in Tarragona featuring Gabriel Rufián, Oriol Junqueras and Elisenda Alamany. The closing rally will be held on Friday, 27 November in Sant Andreu de la Barca (Barcelona). Alamany, the party's secretary general and spokesperson, framed the vote in defensive terms.

“Faced with the risk and the threat, Esquerra will be the best defence of our country.”

Rufián's travels beyond Catalonia

Rufián's campaign reaches beyond Catalonia because of a cooperation deal with Podemos, under which Podemos will not stand in Catalonia and will ask its voters to back ERC. Rufián will speak at Podemos's central rally in Madrid on Saturday, 21 November, and Irene Montero will join ERC's central rally in Barcelona the following day, Sunday, 22 November. Rufián is also scheduled to visit Palma on 13 November and Castelló on 19 November, where ERC runs in coalitions with Compromís-Front Valencià and Ara Més-Front Ampli. Carme Gomila, the candidate of the Ara Més coalition, is an ERC member in the Balearic Islands, and if she wins a seat she would be the first republican deputy from outside Catalonia in Congress since the Second Republic. Inside Catalonia, Rufián will take part in at least seven events, including Tortosa on 15 November, Mollet del Vallès on 16 November, Lleida on 18 November and Rubí on 26 November. He will not visit the province of Girona, where ERC has planned rallies in Lloret de Mar and Figueres, and Junqueras will attend the Lloret de Mar event on Tuesday, 17 November.

Voter pool and budget

The campaign has a budget of 2.3 million euros, which the party will fund from its own resources. The programme contains 258 proposals and builds on the work ERC says it did in the Cortes during the last legislature, including unfinished items such as the reform of regional financing. ERC's main rival for voters is the PSC, and the party calculates that about 500,000 votes are in dispute with it, against roughly 250,000 with the Comuns and 50,000 with Junts.

PSC500,000

Comuns250,000

Junts50,000

PSC

500000 votes

Comuns

250000 votes

Junts

50000 votes

Data from the article text

ERC wants to blunt the PSC's 'voto útil' pitch so that it does not erode the party's voting intention. In the last general election ERC won 7 seats in Congress and 3 in the Senate, where it ran in coalition with EH Bildu, and it aims to improve on those results on 29 November.

Left-right framing against PP and Vox

ERC has placed the campaign on the left-right axis and says it will stand clearly on the left, confronting fascism. Party sources describe the campaign as defensive and say that a right-wing government would leave the party on the defensive. The message targets social discontent over rising prices, housing, train services and waiting lists in public healthcare, and party sources list pensions, women's rights and the Catalan language among the stakes. A rail accident at Urda (Toledo) has disrupted the rhythm of the campaign, but ERC expects the left-right divide to shape the result. ERC's campaign takes it as given that Alberto Núñez Feijóo's PP will win the election and could reach the Moncloa this time, unlike in 2023. The party's aim is to win back seats from its 7 seats in Congress won at the last election.