News

ALBANO DANTE FACHIN

PODEM SECRETARY GENERAL

‘A big turnout may pick the padlock’

The leader of the Catalan Podem party feels in a strong position after the citizens council approved supporting the referendum as a protest.

How are you going to vote in the referendum law bill?
We will wait for the parliamentary debate were we can discuss it as a group. What I vote will come out of that debate. Everyone knows that the views of the CSQP members on this issue are different.
Is Podem encouraging people to vote in the 1-O referendum?
We say that it is not the referendum we need, but that’s because the PP and the State don’t want it. But there is one thing: if the turnout is huge, the political force to unblock the situation could be huge. A large turnout could pick the lock.
Will Podem campaign?
All sides are inviting us to express our opinion. For us, the major debate in Catalonia is whether there will be a vote or not. From September we will see how everything is to be organised.
Will you put Podem’s position on the vote to the membership?
Within our field, no organisation has had such a deep and wide debate on this as Podem Catalunya. Almost 1,000 people have taken part. More than 63% say we cannot turn our backs on what happens on October 1. We have a lot of tools and we will not rule out any of them because we will have to see how things develop.
In a hypothetical election, would Podem have its own candidate?
It would be hard to understand how Podem could do one thing and the Commons another. Now, so that the organisations work they have to be together; it shouldn’t be an agreement between Xavi [Domènech, leader of Catalunya en comú] and I: the membership has to agree, there have to be clear rules... If you achieve that, I think it is the best scenario. Adapted from an interview by Anna Ballbona.

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