BARCELONA: Most pollsters saw Spain’s far-right Vox in the role, but none imagined it would be exiled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont emerging as kingmaker from Sunday’s inconclusive snap election.

Although the right-wing Popular Party (PP) is demanding the right to rule after winning the vote, it seems a remote possibility given that it didn’t manage to secure an absolute majority, even with the support of Vox.

And that offers a chance for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to cling onto power if he wins the backing of several Basque and Catalan independence parties whose parliamentary support was key to propping up his outgoing minority government.

Even so, Sanchez would still need to secure the agreement of JxCat, the hardline separatist party headed by Puigdemont, whose seven lawmakers hold the key to the Socialist leader passing any parliamentary investiture vote.

And the irony of being kingmaker was not lost on the former Catalan leader who fled to Belgium to avoid prosecution over his role in the failed 2017 independence bid that sparked Spain’s worst crisis in decades.

“One day you are decisive in order to form a Spanish government, the next day Spain orders your arrest,” tweeted Puigdemont in English after Spain issued a fresh warrant for his arrest just hours after the election results became clear.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2023