Puigdemont no longer leader of separatist party JuntsxCat | Abroad

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont no longer heads the JuntsxCat (Junts per Catalunya; Together for Catalonia) party, which calls for the region of Catalonia to secede from Spain. He passed the torch on Saturday during a party conference.

“This is my last (congress) as party chairman,” said 59-year-old Puigdemont during the congress in Argèles-sur-Mer, a French coastal town close to the Spanish border.

Puigdemont had already announced a month ago that he would no longer be a candidate for the party chairmanship. “The party needs a more committed chairman” who “fully participates in the political decisions to be made,” it said at the time.

Carles Puigdemont. © AFP

Puigdemont was a leader of the Catalan independence struggle. He headed the Catalan government that staged an independence referendum in October 2017, which Madrid considered illegal. He then fled to Belgium to escape prosecution by the Spanish courts.

The party will henceforth be led by a duo. Jordi Turull becomes the secretary general of JuntsxCat.

Turull was one of the separatist leaders who was sentenced to prison in 2019 for his part in the referendum, but was pardoned by the Spanish government in June last year. He will form a tandem with new party chairman Laura Borràs, who is also chairman of the regional parliament.

Carles Puigdemont.

Carles Puigdemont. © ANP / EPA

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