Catalan Senate Candidates Withdraw Nationwide in a Pilgrimage on Foot to Madrid
Comuns and the PSC agree to withdraw their Senate candidacies in Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, and the candidates walk the whole distance to the capital to hand back their places in person.
Candidates from Comuns and the PSC set out from Girona, Lleida and Tarragona on Wednesday morning in a joint march to Madrid, carrying their Senate candidacies on foot as a sign that they are giving up the seats in person. The Govern de la Generalitat confirmed that the party leaderships had agreed to withdraw their names in all three provinces, and that the walkers would deliver the decision to the Senate by hand.
The route passes through forty-one towns and crosses two mountain ranges, and the regional government has built temporary rest stops every eleven kilometres, each staffed by a volunteer from the Catalan Civil Protection service. Local councils in Lleida have already renamed three streets after the candidates, and a school in Reus has changed its timetable so that pupils can wave at the columns as they pass. Several candidates have trained for the journey since the agreement was announced, one of them alone on a treadmill in the Govern's basement gym.
A spokesperson for the Generalitat said the decision reflected a commitment to democratic humility. "When you agree to step aside, the least you can do is take the long way," the spokesperson said. Opposition parties have asked whether the Senate chamber will have a dedicated door for the arrivals, and the Parliament's security office has begun drawing up a plan to receive several hundred damp, exhausted politicians at the same time.
Organisers expect the first walkers to reach the capital within a fortnight, and the last group is scheduled to arrive in time for the general election on 29 November, though the timetable depends on the weather over the Guadarrama pass. Until then, the Senate has agreed to keep the three empty seats marked with a small card reading "pending".
2