The 2017 vote delivered a clear result, but the job is not finished

On 1 October 2017 the people of Catalonia issued an unequivocal independence mandate to the incumbent Catalan leaders as per the laws and resolutions democratically passed only weeks earlier. The whole world bore witness to it. The Catalan referendum was legal and its binding democratic mandate stands valid to this day.

However, the Catalan leadership at the time failed to enforce the new laws and implement the independence mandate, which has plunged Catalonia into a political bog: Catalans are not independent (in fact, home rule is now little more than a charade), Madrid’s fiscal plundering continues unchecked, and Catalonia has made no progress regarding the use of the Catalan language and the protection of Catalan culture; in fact, there has been a clear regression in every aspect.

The political parties that led the 2017 independence “process” are unwilling to acknowledge these self-evident truths. Therefore, they are no longer fit for purpose and an alternative must be sought.

The regional institutions and the current political landscape

Since 2017, the priority of the three main self-proclaimed pro-independence parties has been to secure the release of their imprisoned leaders, the return of those in exile and, more broadly, dodging Spain’s lawfare. In return, they have resorted to every means available to them in order to thwart all independence efforts, while still paying lip-service to the idea of a free Catalonia.

Meanwhile, the entire political-institutional edifice (Catalonia’s regional government and parliament, the political parties and their leaders) has been exposed as a sham: it has no democratic legitimacy and, in effect, lies outside the law. Let us be clear: Barcelona’s regional parliament is unlawful and does not represent the Catalan people.

To make matters worse, the regional party-based system yields extremely low-quality leaders, unaccountable local proxies who are comfortable managing a smoke-and-mirrors home rule overseen by the Spanish state.

Who is your MP?

If you are a Catalan who voted in the 2024 regional elections, do you know which MP your vote helped to elect? Are they local? And if so, does their voting record show that they have your best interests in mind?

The truth is that MP candidates are handpicked by the leadership of Catalonia’s political parties based on party politics and an iron-clad loyalty record. Constituents have become disenfranchised, resulting in an increasingly low voter turnout.

For a Free Parliament

From this analysis it follows that Catalans must forge a new path of their own, outside the regional framework and the Spanish institutions, in order to implement the mandate of the 2017 referendum. This must happen outside the current party-based system.

In short, Catalans will vote in a new legitimacy by choosing truly democratic representatives, independent of the regional institutions, who will bring independence into effect.

Parlament Lliure, a non-partisan group, has taken it upon itself to call and stage a general election in 2026 to do precisely that.