Roger Torrent, new president of the Catalan Parliament

The new Catalan Parliament has celebrated its first session and has chosen independentist Roger Torrent as its new president. The 40-year-old ERC member has been elected with the votes of pro-secession parties Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), ERC and CUP. Constitutionalist parties Ciudadanos, PSC and PP have voted for Cs candidate José María Espejo-Saavedra, although one of their members, whose identity remains unknown, has emitted a blank vote. Members of Catalunya en Comú, far left coalition, have all abstained in the voting.

Pro-independence MPs who remain imprisoned waiting for a trial have all voted by proxy, while the ones who remain fugitives in Brussels, including former President Carles Puigdemont, didn’t request to vote.

In his first speech, Torrent has asserted he will work to restitute the Catalan institutions after the application of the article 155 of the Constitution by the Spanish government. He made no mentions to the Catalan Republic, probably in order to avoid any legal trouble.