Platform for Catalonia
Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC; English: Platform for Catalonia) was a far-right political party rooted in Catalonia, Spain, which centred its political agenda around controlling immigration and was opposed to Catalan independence. It was strongly anti-Islamic, and was widely considered a racist, xenophobic far-right political force.[14][15][16][17] Its leader was Josep Anglada, town councillor in Vic. PxC has 8 local representatives, often in cities with tensions between locals and immigrants. They have not had any representatives at provincial, regional or national level. In 2014, the faction of PxC supporting Catalan independence splintered to form a new far-right pro-independence party "Som Catalans" (We are Catalans).[18][19] On February 2019, PxC merged with the Spanish nationalist party VOX.[20]
Leader | August Armengol Rofes |
---|---|
Founded | 5 April 2002 |
Dissolved | 16 February 2019 |
Merged into | Vox |
Headquarters | 10 Jacint Verdaguer St. 08500 Vic, Barcelona |
Ideology | Euroscepticism[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Spanish unionism[11] Populism[12] Anti-Islam[13] |
Political position | Far-right |
Local Government (Catalonia) | 0 / 9,077
|
Website | |
www.plataforma.cat | |
Ideology
At their 2008 Congress, the PxC invited the Vlaams Belang of Belgium and the Lega Nord of Italy to attend.[21] In 2012, a senior PxC member congratulated the Golden Dawn of Greece on their general election results.[22]
In 2011 the PxC were investigated after ordering a "Night of the Long Knives" against Muslim clerics in Catalonia.[23]
The PxC councillor in Salt, Girona, voted against criminalising homophobia in the city in 2013.[24]
History
Anglada started the party on 15 January 2001 as the Plataforma Vigatana (Platform for Vic).[25] The PxC entered their first municipal elections in 2003, winning one seat in five respective cities. Cervera in Lleida province gave the largest percentage to the party, at 9.2%.[26]
In the 2010 Catalan parliamentary election they received 2.4% of votes, falling 15,000 votes short of entering Parliament.
In the 2011 local elections, PxC got 65,905 votes, and grew from 17 to 67 councillors. Two were elected in Hospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia's second-largest city. Three were elected in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, which along with the two in Hospitalet constitute the PxC's first representation in Greater Barcelona. Mataró, in Barcelona province, had the highest percentage voting for the party (10.49%, 3 seats). In Vic, the PxC grew from four to five councillors, making them the city's second-largest party after Convergence and Union.[27]
On 16 February 2019, the PxC was absorbed into Vox.[28]
Attempts at national expansion
Parties affiliated with the PxC were set up in other regions of Spain, however they have not obtained any electoral success. The Platform for Madrid (Spanish: Plataforma por Madrid, PxM) cut off its links to Anglada's party in March 2006.[29]
In 2012, Anglada announced the launch of the Plataforma por la Libertad (PxL, English: Platform for Freedom), an expansion of the party into the rest of Spain.[30] Anglada and the PxL have protested against the construction of mosques in Spain.[31] Plataforma por la Libertad was refounded in 2013 as the Party for Freedom.[32][33]
Electoral performance
Parliament of Catalonia
Date | Votes | Seats | Status | Size | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | ±pp | # | ± | |||
2010 | 75,134 | 2.40% | +2.40 | 0 / 135 |
No Seats | 8 | |
2012 | 60,107 | 1.65% | –0.75 | 0 / 135 |
No Seats | 8 |
References
- Josep Anglada, la sonrisa de la extrema derecha. Público, 14 de enero de 2010.
- ¿Podría ser la decisión en Vic una primera victoria de la extrema derecha? Archived January 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Informativos Telecinco, 15 de enero de 2010.
- Josep Anglada, el ultraderechista que crece en Vic Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. El Plural, 24 de enero de 2010.
- Cónclave ultraderechista para lanzar la campaña del xenófobo Anglada. El Mundo, 13 de marzo de 2010.
- La ultraderecha capitaliza el rechazo a una mezquita en Premià del Mar. ABC, 18 de mayo de 2002.
- El ultraderechista Anglada propone prohibir el velo musulmán en Vic. El País, 24 de enero de 2007.
- La extrema derecha busca un nuevo Sáenz de Ynestrillas para aglutinar el voto 'ultra'. El Confidencial, 3 de junio de 2008.
- El ultraderechista Partit per Catalunya decide presentarse a las elecciones al Parlament. La Vanguardia, 13 de febrero de 2010.
- Plataforma per Catalunya invita a la ultraderecha flamenca y a la Liga Norte italiana en su congreso. Europaress, 17 de noviembre de 2007.
- La ultradreta se n’aprofita Archived January 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Avui, 14 de enero de 2010.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2014-09-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Anglada: "Being populist and identitarian is being honestly democratic" Archived 2011-10-03 at the Wayback Machine Minuto Digital (Spanish)
- Anglada: "We don't want Muslims, neither in Catalonia nor in Spain" - Pxcatalunya.com
- 27-M.- El partido xenófobo Plataforma per Catalunya triplica el número de concejales, Europa Press, 28 May 2007.(Spanish)
- PSC y CiU descartan cualquier tipo de acuerdo con la xenófoba Plataforma per Catalunya Archived 2008-01-30 at Archive.today,La Vanguardia, 28 May 2007 (Spanish).
- CiU salva el presupuesto en Vic gracias a la abstención de un grupo xenófobo, El País, 3 March 2005 (Spanish).
- Un manifiesto alerta del racismo de Plataforma per Catalunya, El Periodico de Catalunya, 24 May 2007 (Spanish).
- "Una vigatana lidera un nou partit xenòfob que té la independència com a esquer". El9nou.cat. 7 July 2014.
- "La ultraderecha se descara en Cataluña ante el auge del soberanismo". Ccaa.elpais.com. 9 July 2014.
- "La ultraderechista Plataforma per Catalunya cesa su actividad para adherirse a Vox". www.publico.es. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
- Press, Europa (17 November 2008). "Plataforma per Catalunya invita a la ultraderecha flamenca y a la Liga Norte italiana en su congreso". M.europapress.es.
- "Alba Daurada inflama les passions de PxC". NacióDigital.cat.
- "El fiscal investiga a PxC por instar en la web a una "noche de cuchillos largos"". Poloitica.elpais.com. 25 August 2011.
- "El ayuntamiento de Salt sancionará las conductas homófobas". Cascaraamarga.es.
- "¿Es este hombre un peligro?". Elmundo.es.
- "ELECCIONES 25 M 2003". Elmundo.es.
- "Plataforma per Catalunya recibe 66.000 votos y pasa de 17 a 67 concejales". Vozbcn.com. 22 May 2011.
- https://cat.elpais.com/cat/2019/02/16/catalunya/1550343686_509605.html
- "Anglada crea Plataforma por la Libertad (PxL) para extenderse por España". Elmundo.es.
- "Anglada: 'No queremos una mezquita ni en Torrejón ni en ningún sitio'". Elmundo.es.
- "¿Qué es el Partido por la Libertad? - Periódico Diagonal". Diagonalperiodico.net. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- "Registro de partidos políticos". Sede.mir.gob.es.