The candidates claim to have achieved the freedom of the political prisoners and the repeal of the crime of sedition, as well as the increase in pensions or the housing law

With less than a month to go before the Spanish elections on the 23 of July, candidates Gabriel Rufián and Teresa Jordà, who top the Esquerra Republicana ticket for the Spanish Congress, have gone over all the work done in the last four years in the Madrid parliament, assuring that "Esquerra Republicana does not dodge difficult decisions, of which there have been many, but always shows its face to defend Catalonia and to force the advancement of social policies that improve people's day-to-day lives . That is defending Catalonia, and anything else is just sterile grandstanding, without results."

Ms Jordà detailed the work done to "advance towards the liberation of our country," starting with getting the Spanish state to sit down to negotiate. "We are negotiating to combat political repression and we have done what we said we would do: get the political prisoners freed." "We are not the 'no to everything'; with that strategy, the political prisoners would still be in prison today," the candidate pointed out.

“We have also managed to get the crime of sedition repealed, favouring all those victims of retaliation and the social movements," she added. In fact, "one of the clearest consequences of the negotiation, of having rolled up our sleeves and worked on the reform of the Penal Code, is the return of several exiles," she remarked.

For his part, Mr Rufián evidenced that at a social level, Esquerra Republicana has also done what it said it would do: "We have passed a childhood law; a science law that has saved the Catalan science parks; we negotiated and managed to raise and dignify pensions; a university law in favour of students; an audiovisual law so that our sons and daughters can see more content in Catalan; a decent housing law, because housing should not be a mercenary business but a right; we have managed to raise the minimum wage twice, and achieved a benefit such as the living wage."

"In these elections we are dicing with human rights," said Mr Rufián, who warned not only of a possible nationalist Spanish People’s Party and far-right Vox government, but also of a People’s Party-Socialist "grand coalition." "We already know that the socialist PSOE makes the worst choices whenever they can." "Voting Esquerra Republicana means fighting fascism, exacting from Spain’s presumed most progressive government and moving Catalonia forward," he said finally.