Unió’s pro-independence splinter group founds Demòcrates de Catalunya

The pro-independence sector of Unió Democràtica de Catalunya, previously represented in the “Hereus UDC 1931” group within the party, has broken away and founded a new political party, Demòcrates de Catalunya (Democrats of Catalonia). The former speaker of the Catalan parliament, Joan Rigol, the current speaker, Núria de Gispert, and the Catalan government’s secretary for universities and research, Antoni Castellà, are some of the more recognizable faces of a political project which, they said, has been launched with the goal of lending support to president Artur Mas, working to ensure that the 27 September election is understood as a plebiscite on Catalonia’s secession from Spain, and making this political aspiration a reality. Rigol, De Gispert, and Castellà have all been sharply critical of UDC’s leadership.

The new party’s appearance on the political map comes after the breakup of the longstanding alliance between Convergència Democràtica de Catalonia, the governing party in Catalonia, and Unió Democràtica de Catalunya.

Among the reasons cited by the founders of Demòcrates de Catalunya for the split from Unió and the founding of the new party was the fact that the leaders of Unió are against Catalan independence although a significant sector of its members supports secession from Spain. In response to the creation of the new party, some of the boards of Unió’s local chapters have already been dissolved in order to join Demòcrates de Catalunya.