(Bloomberg) -- Carles Puigdemont, who was ousted as president of Catalonia, said he won't seek the leadership of the Spanish region, opening the way for a pro-independence government to form two months after separatists won a majority in elections.
“Today I informed the Catalan parliamentary speaker that I provisionally don't present my candidacy to run for president,” Puigdemont said in a speech on YouTube late Thursday. “The decision is intended to help create a government as soon as possible.”
Puigdemont said his party will propose Jordi Sanchez to be named as the Spanish region's leader. Sanchez, a former president of the separatist campaign group Catalan National Assembly, has been detained amid a probe into accusations of sedition. He will require approval from a judge to attend the debate in parliament should the speaker propose him as a candidate.
Separatist parties led by Puigdemont's Junts per Catalunya group won a majority of seats in Catalonia's parliament in regional elections in December, two months after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Puigdemont for seeking independence from Spain. Puigdemont fled to Belgium in October and faces arrest if he returns home.
The Catalan parliament on Thursday proposed a motion that symbolically recognizes Puigdemont's right to lead the regional government.
To contact the reporters on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.net, Esteban Duarte in Madrid at eduarterubia@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Ben Holland
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