Puigdemont, 61, ran to Belgium after leading a 2017 breakaway bid that quickly collapsed and is still a wanted man in Spain. A contentious amnesty bill, crafted by Spain’s left-wing government to clear him and hundreds of other supporters of Catalan independence, is slowly making its way through the national Parliament.
“I will run in the next elections for the Catalan Parliament … now that I have the chance to restore my presidency,” Puigdemont said at a rally in Elna, France, near the Spanish border, when he announced his candidacy. “The countdown until my return begins today.”
It appears that Puigdemont will campaign from abroad for his party in the May 12 regional ballot, that was called by Catalan’s regional president Pere Aragonès, a political rival of Puigdemont inside the separatist camp, after he failed to pass a regional budget last week.