ERC has approved its lists for the 29 November general election, placing Oriol Junqueras 31st in Barcelona and Raül Romeva as first substitute. Four Podemos candidates join the alliance, with Alejandra Sandoval sixth in Barcelona.
ERC won four seats in Barcelona in 2023; Alejandra Sandoval is now sixth on the party’s list, a position that could lead to election if the Republicans increase their tally. The party believes it could reach six seats in the province, though that remains a possibility, not a forecast.
The Consell Nacional de ERC approved the lists on Tuesday, 20 October, for the general election on 29 November. ERC also approved its Senate candidates and a draft election programme. Gabriel Rufián leads the Barcelona list, while Oriol Junqueras is 31st, the penultimate position, and former regional minister Raül Romeva is the first substitute. ERC deputy president Diana Riba occupies the final place. Neither Junqueras nor Romeva is expected to enter Congress from those positions.
Their places are largely symbolic. On the same day the lists were approved, Spain’s Supreme Court applied the amnesty law to Junqueras and Romeva, as well as Dolors Bassa and Jordi Turull, lifting their bans on holding public office and restoring their eligibility to run for election. Junqueras had been disqualified until 2031; the bans affecting Romeva, Bassa and Turull had been due to last until 2030. The restrictions followed the Supreme Court’s 2019 convictions over the Catalan independence referendum process in 2017.
Sandoval is the most prominent of four Podemos representatives included under the electoral alliance with ERC. The Sabadell city councillor is a psychologist and vocational guidance specialist. Over the past decade, she has worked for Fundació Confavc. Her experience also includes roles at Fundació Laboral de la Construcció and Fundació Cecot Persona y Treball.
Her sixth place is the only one of the four Podemos slots described as within reach. In Barcelona, María Pozuelo is tenth and David Clarà is 23rd. Toni Carmona is fourth in Tarragona. In Sabadell, Sandoval shares a municipal group with Joan Mena of Comuns; Mena will stand for Frente Amplio on 29 November, putting the two on opposing sides of the election.
The alliance makes ERC and Podemos formal electoral partners in Catalonia. Their first joint event is scheduled for Saturday in Barcelona’s Nou Barris district, with Irene Montero and Gabriel Rufián due to take part. The arrangement rests on both leaders seeking additional electoral support: Rufián in Catalonia and Montero elsewhere in Spain. RTVE has reported the ERC-Podemos alliance with Rufián leading the campaign.
The Catalan alliance is part of a broader round of coalition-building ahead of the vote. EFE reported that nine coalitions registered with Spain’s Central Electoral Commission, including an ERC-EH Bildu agreement for Senate elections in Catalonia and the Basque Country. Navarre was also included.
Other parties are also preparing for the 29 November vote: the PSOE has named Pedro Sánchez its candidate, as its candidate announcement reported. For ERC, the lists put Rufián back at the head of its Barcelona campaign as the party tries to recover after a declining electoral cycle that began in the 2023 municipal elections and culminated in losing the Generalitat in 2024.
At Tuesday’s council, ERC set out two immediate priorities: mobilising members and presenting the party as a useful tool for defending Catalonia and stopping the far right’s advance. Rufián has led the Republicans in Madrid since 2016; the party says polls show his name recognition and approval are at their highest levels yet.
