The ERC crisis over its false flag attacks has had an impact on the fight for the leadership of the party. The latest chapter has been the revelation of messages in internal chats by Marta Rovira in which the general secretary considered, without yet knowing that the denigrating posters of the Maragall family came from her own party, that the attack could serve to “get a few votes”.
The interim leadership of ERC, headed by supporters of Rovira, has hinted that the team of former president and candidate for re-election, Oriol Junqueras, is behind the leak of the messages. “Not everything goes to win,” lamented the Republican spokesperson, Marta Vilalta.
As he has anticipated Catalonia RadioLast January, Rovira wrote several messages in an internal chat that indicated his knowledge of the party’s parallel structure to attack rivals without signing the actions, known as “campaign B.”
Far from being over in July, the return from vacation has brought new aftershocks to the internal earthquake in ERC due to the derogatory posters about Alzheimer’s and the Maragall family that came out of its own ranks. Ernest Maragall left the party in protest at the internal management of the crisis, as several leaders had known for months that the posters were a false flag attack.
The party did not open proceedings against the former leaders involved, including the former deputy minister of the Government, Sergi Sabrià, until after the newspaper ARA revealed the existence of the false flag attack and a parallel structure of the party dedicated to anonymously denigrating rivals.
“How are we doing in campaign B?” wrote Rovira in an internal chat. The new chapter of the crisis occurs in a context of an internal fight for the leadership of the party that will be decided on November 30 between Junqueras’ list, who aspires to revalidate the position, and that of those close to Rovira, who still do not have a leader.
At a press conference, Vilalta criticised the use of Rovira’s messages “in the context of a congress process”. Without explicitly mentioning Junqueras, he did point to the candidate: “We ask the people who want to lead the projects to face the congress in the most responsible way possible.”
“The project is above all and not everything is worth it to win,” Vilalta added, who considered that the leak of the messages “is used more in the context of the congress than to clarify the facts.”
The spokesperson regretted that the leaks to the media “harm the project.” “Trying to win at all costs and using all the arts to win a congress does not help,” she added.
“We once again apologise on behalf of ERC and we will do so as many times as necessary,” insisted Vilalta, who reiterated that the false flag attack “is shameful and reprehensible and cannot be tolerated.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
