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Pep the politician: Guardiola lends name to Catalonian separatist party Pep the politician: Guardiola lends name to Catalonian separatist party
(about 3 hours later)
Pep Guardiola will be running for office in the forthcoming parliamentary elections that will be held in Catalonia in September this year. He has been hailed as one of the world’s top football managers – the man who led FC Barcelona to 14 titles in four years and is currently the coach of Bayern Munich.
The Bayern Munich coach, and former Barcelona manager, will be lending his name to a coalition of separatist parties running under the umbrella parliamentary list Convergencia y Esquerra. Now those pushing for Catalan independence are hoping Pep Guardiola can help secure a win off the field, as a figurehead in the movement to break away from Spain.
In what is mostly a symbolic act, Guardiola’s name will be “closing” the parliamentary list – his name will be the last on the ballot and it’s unlikely he’ll serve in the Parliament of Catalonia. The list brings together a number of smaller separatist groups and having Guardiola’s name will add extra weight to the independence campaign. The 44-year-old has agreed to stand as a candidate for the two main parties seeking independence from Spain in the Catalan regional elections, slated to be held on 27 September. His name will be the last one on the list, making his candidacy more of a symbolic gesture in support of Catalan independence rather than any kind of career change.
Guardiola, who was born in the town of Santpedor in central Catalonia, has long advocated for Catalan succession. He has backed international campaigns to rally for the north-eastern region’s right to hold an independence referendum like that granted to Scotland last year and last November he travelled to the region to cast his ballot in the symbolic referendum on independence.
The issue of Catalan separation was reignited last week, after Catalan leader Artur Mas said his party, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, would join forces with the Catalan Republican Left to create a joint front for independence in the upcoming regional elections.
On Monday, the two parties presented their joint candidacy ( in which the leaders of pro-independence organisations such as the Catalan National Assembly also figure prominently. Guardiola was not in attendance, however, as he is currently touring China with Bayern Munich.
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El País reports that Guardiola has no intention of serving in parliament but adding his name to the election ballot is an unequivocal sign of support for Convergencia y Esquerra, who are campaigning to vote for independence in September. Mas is expected to continue as regional president if the joint candidacy triumphs in September.
The news was announced by the pro-independence MEP Ramon Tremosa on Twitter. Guardiola has been a vocal independence supporter for years, including appearances at pro-independence rallies and membership of staunch separatists organisations ANC and Omnium Cultural – he has even registered his three young children with the latter. The agreement between the two parties also maps out a path towards independence from Spain within 18 months of winning a majority, effectively turning the regional election into a plebiscite on independence.
The list will be officially launched on Monday evening at the Museu d’Història de Catalunya but Guardiola will not be in attendance as he is currently touring China with Bayern Munich. On Sunday, Mas urged Catalans to back the initiative. “We have a great opportunity here. Let’s take advantage of it, because it might not come again for a long time,” he said.
In recent months, polls have suggested that support for Catalan independence is on the wane, with Catalonia’s state-run Centre for Opinion Studies finding that those in support of an independent Catalan state had dropped to 38%, down from 45% a year earlier.
Some have pointed to the rise of political upstarts Podemos and Ciudadanos to explain the decline, with Mas telling the Wall Street Journal in April that the emergence of Podemos was “highly negative” for the independence movement. While centre-right Ciudadanos is ardently opposed to succession, anti-austerity party Podemos has said it supports the right of Catalans to decide but would prefer to see Catalonia remain part of Spain.
In the past, Spain’s conservative prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has continuously blocked all attempts by Catalonia to pursue the topic of independence. Last week he showed little sign of veering from his hardline stance. “There will be no Catalan independence,” he told reporters, seeking to clearly untangle the issue of independence from the upcoming elections. “We are talking about regional elections, in which people will choose their regional parliament. Nothing else,” he added.