The Catalan parliament will vote tomorrow, Saturday, on the region's new leader, in the fifth attempt to form a government since the last government was ousted from Madrid about seven months ago because it declared the region independent.
Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemon, who is now in Germany, has nominated Catalan MP Kim Tora in a speech published on social media sites late yesterday.
Catalan Parliament Speaker Roger Torrent said in a statement today that he had nominated Torah for the presidency after consultations with the parties and that parliament would hold a vote on his appointment on Saturday.
The separatist movement in the affluent northwestern region failed to form a government despite winning most of the seats in the December elections announced by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy following Putin's attempt to secede.
Parliament must elect a leader before May 22, otherwise new elections must be called. However, possible new elections are expected to have similar results to the previous ones, according to a poll published today.
All four previous candidacies proposed by the independence movement were blocked by the courts either because the candidates live abroad or because they are being held for their role in the referendum and the subsequent declaration of independence.
One of the candidates was Putzdemon himself, who is in Berlin waiting for a German court to decide whether to deport him to Spain on charges of misuse of public funds.
Tora, a pro-independence activist with little political experience who has published books on the history of Catalonia, must secure an absolute majority in tomorrow's vote to be elected president of the region.
If he does not secure this support, a simple majority in the vote, which will take place 48 hours later on Monday, will be enough under Spanish electoral law.