Esquerra Republicana and Junts per Catalunya have asked all parties to have "common sense" and to restrict face-to-face meetings as much as possible to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
The two parties also demand that citizens do not skip the confinement to attend political events.
The Catalan Executive, made up of these two formations, assured this Tuesday that it is obliged to guarantee the right to political participation in the 14-F elections and that therefore it will allow citizens to bypass the municipal confinement in campaign to attend events.
The Government will allow to skip the confinement to go to rallies
Aragonès and the legitimacy of 14-F
Illa justifies her departure in the middle of the third wave
The announcement generated such a stir on the Internet that Pere Aragonès, vice president of the Government and candidate of ERC, has asked candidates this Wednesday to reduce face-to-face events to a minimum.
Aragonès has argued that they are required by law to preserve that fundamental right but that this does not prevent the parties from making decisions.
"Where the law does not reach common sense," he said, noting that, for example, ERC is going to ask at the party table that is convened this Thursday that its militants only attend the events of the municipality itself.
The Regional Minister of the Presidency and spokesperson for the Government, Meritxell Budó, in a telematic press conference on April 13, 2020. In video, Budó has assured this Tuesday that the Government is "committed" to guarantee that, if the elections are maintained for the 14F, it is possible to vote "with total security" .EFE
The restrictions in Catalonia in force until the 7th contemplate the ban on leaving the municipality, that restaurants can only open between 7.30 and 9.30, and give lunches until 3.30;
large commercial areas are closed and only essential commerce opens on weekends.
The curfew is at 22.00.
After the Executive Council on Tuesday, Meritxell Budó, counselor of the Presidency, explained that the Government is obliged to preserve the right to political participation: "Citizens have the right to receive information and the parties to transfer their proposals."
The message unleashed enormous anger on the internet from citizens and specifically from doctors and scientists who consider the measure incomprehensible in the current pandemic.
Junts, the councilor's party, already issued a statement on Tuesday night asking the parties to restrict the rallies and their membership in particular to attend only those held in their municipality.
Ismael López-Peña, responsible for electoral logistics, also demanded common sense.
The PSC, the only party that was opposed to postponing the elections to May, has intervened this morning in the debate, pointing out that it does not understand that the Government considers that going to a rally is an exception.
"Our campaign will be 100% digital," said the PSC, ensuring that only the candidates will be at their events and there will be no public.
The Socialists will deploy three caravans through Catalonia and Pedro Sánchez will travel to this community five times.
In Comú Podem it will also carry out a campaign without citizens.
The reaction of the scientific community has been overwhelming.
Daniel López Codina, researcher of the Computational Biology and Complex Systems team (Biocosmc) of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, which produces daily and weekly reports on the evolution of the epidemic, has stated on the Internet: “I am very angry (... ) At the university we are doing classes
online
, we don't like it, but it is what we have to do.
Political parties, you still have time!
Modernize your campaigns! ”, The scientist has written.
"How can you ask the other actors to close their businesses, or not to go to the theater in another municipality ...?
The political parties have to set an example ”.
The family doctor Lluís Esteve has opined that the law protects that skipping confinement in the midst of the pandemic is at least "grotesque" and a low blow to the morale of many citizens and especially "to the morale of health professionals."
Jaume Padrós, president of the Barcelona College of Physicians, in favor of restricting measures to the maximum, has expressed his support with this laconic message: "I don't know what to say anymore."
At the worst moment of the epidemic, going to a rally is a fundamental right and seeing the grandmother who lives alone, outside the municipality, is not.
Incoherence?
Absurdity?
Absurdity? ”Asks physicist Àlex Arenas
The physicist and professor at the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona Álex Arenas stated: “The people, or at least I, urgently need a class on what are fundamental rights and what are not.
At the worst moment of the epidemic, going to a rally is a fundamental right and seeing the grandmother who lives alone, outside the municipality, is not.
Incoherence?
Absurdity?
Absurdity?".
The professor of Administrative Law at the University of Girona Josep María Aguirre has reproached the Government for “justifying attendance at the rallies simply because it is a fundamental right, since the right of assembly, demonstration or freedom of worship is and is also very limited for months ”.
The Corona-Dades Twitter account, with almost 50,000 followers and which is dedicated every day to analyzing epidemic indicators, has ironically written: “On Friday, we will all make a list of municipalities where there will be political events on Saturday and Sunday.
So, whoever wants to, can go out for a bit of air.
What do you want me to tell you, if they can move wherever they want, so can we ”.