The Catalan Parliament reject Mas’ candidacy again

The election of a new President of Catalonia will again have to wait. 73 MPs from the 135 in the Catalan chamber refused this Thursday to re-elect current President, Artur Mas, which is exactly the same result that the candidate got in the first round of the investiture debate. The only MPs who supported Mas’ candidacy were the 62 members of the pro-independence cross-party list, ‘Junts Pel Sí’. Their partner in the roadmap towards independence, radical left CUP, repeated their ‘no’ to Mas, as they repeatedly announced they would. The schedule for the upcoming weeks established that the parliamentary groups will hold meetings and continue to negotiate in order to present an alternative candidate, but if one is not chosen before the 10th of January, the Parliament will have to call elections again. This is the first time in the Parliament’s history that a candidate hasn’t obtained a majority to be instated in the second round.