Briefing
The leader of Esquerra Republicana (ERC), Oriol Junqueras, has reaffirmed in several interviews and statements that Gabriel Rufián is expected to stand as ERC’s lead candidate in the forthcoming national parliamentary elections on 29 November 2026 Junqueras called Rufián “the best candidate we have at the moment” and said that Rufián would head the party’s list, provided internal party decisions did not prevent this.
Several news agencies and national media outlets have also reported scenarios in which Rufián might decide not to stand. In this context, the name of Raül Romeva has been mentioned repeatedly as a possible alternative. Reports describe Romeva as a prominent former member of the Catalan government who was imprisoned alongside Junqueras. He has been mentioned as speculation or as one possible option in internal discussions; there has been no official nomination or formal proposal from the party leadership for Romeva.
According to media reports, ERC has set up a Preparatory Commission of the Candidate list and plans to announce its final candidate on 17 October 2026. At the same time, statements by party representatives confirmed that final decisions on candidacies and list arrangements are to be made by then.
The publicly available reports show that Junqueras is publicly campaigning for Rufián and that alternative names have been mentioned in media debate. They do not, however, show that there is a binding internal decision in favour of Romeva. Such personnel options should therefore be treated as unconfirmed scenarios unless and until ERC issues a formal announcement or publishes documented records of its decision-making process.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).