FORMER culture minister Laura Borràs will be the presidential candidate for Together for Catalonia (JxCat) in February’s Catalan elections.

Former president Carles Puigdemont had previously announced he would stand for the party, but not for the presidency. Although an MEP, he is exiled in Belgium and still faces arrest should be try to enter Spain.

Borràs was a JxCat spokesperson in the Spanish congress and is an MP. She won 76% of the electronic vote against Catalan territory minister Damia Calvet, while a third candidate, Jordi Ferrés, withdrew earlier and pledged his support for her.

Thanking ousted Catalan president Quim Torra for his support, a “happy and excited” Borràs said they were closer to the “reality” of Catalan independence.

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“Laura Borràs does not win today, Junts per Catalunya wins,” she said. “We must not choose between independence and management, because we want to manage independence, and the country cannot be managed without independence.

“We are beginning to make history to make a progressive project a reality for our country, to walk towards the republic that we want and need.”

In the three years since the independence referendum that led to Puigdemont’s exile, along with Clara Ponsati and Toni Comin, there have been fears within JxCat that their pro-indy colleagues in the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) were “cooling” towards the prospect of becoming a republic.

In an interview with TVE, Borràs said independence was a “great card” to play, She added: “I do not know if independence has ceased to be a priority for ERC.”

Borràs described those who had agreed with the Spanish government as “parties where independence is obviously not the most essential”, although she did not name ERC.

She expressed some concern at the fact that in the last three years the independence goal had not been advanced, despite pro-indy governments being returned to the Catalan parliament.

However, her ultimate goal for JxCat was clear: “Form a pro-independence government.

“And if ERC wins, we will invest [current president in Torra’s absence] Pere Aragonès because we want to be in a government that is moving towards independence.”