Until last Wednesday, the elections in Catalonia promised to mobilize the attention of the whole country, due to their potential impact on the governability of Spain and the possibility that, according to the polls, the socialists would return to the government of the region after 14 consecutive years of executives led by nationalists and independentists. The polls all give a clear victory, although without an absolute majority, to the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC), led by Salvador Illa. On the other hand, some studies predict that this time there will not be an absolute majority of pro-independence parties, as happened in 2021, when the PSC was already the most voted but did not form the Government because of a coalition of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (JxCat, of former regional president Carles Puigdemont). The two parties broke up in 2022 and the coalition no longer exists. ERC and JxCat are thus entering these elections in confrontation, but at a time when both, in Madrid, have made possible the latest Government of Pedro Sánchez, with whom they negotiated an amnesty for those involved in the unilateral declaration of independence in 2017. The elections in Catalonia were brought forward and immediately had a direct impact on the governance of Spain: Sánchez's executive gave up on putting forward a State Budget proposal for this year and said that it would manage the country, extending the spending and revenue ceilings that were included in last year's document. "It was not the right time for a negotiation with the Catalan pro-independence groups", justified in mid-March the Minister of Finance and 'number two' of the Socialist Party (PSOE), Maria Jesús Montero. This was followed, last week, by a more direct threat from Carles Puigdemont, who is a candidate in these elections despite living in Belgium since 2017 to escape Spanish justice after having led the unilateral declaration of independence that year. In an interview, Puigdemont threatened to withdraw support for Sánchez's Government if the socialists accept the votes of the Popular Party (PP, right) to prevent a regional executive led by pro-independence parties, as happened last year in the Barcelona city council. This scenario changed, or was at least disrupted, last Wednesday, when Pedro Sánchez said he was considering resigning. He canceled his agenda for the next few days to "stop and reflect" and promised a public statement about his future for Monday. Media outlets, ministers and other collaborators of the prime minister and leader of the PSOE assured that the announcement was surprising to everyone. Sánchez made this announcement after a Madrid court confirmed the opening of "a preliminary investigation" into his wife, Begoña Gómez, for alleged influence peddling and corruption, following a complaint from an association linked to the Spanish far right. The prime minister argued that he has been the victim, for months, of the "mud machine" of the PP and Vox (far right), which has now reached his wife, saying he is not sure if it is worth continuing to lead the Government in the face of "the mudslinging" and an "unprecedented attack". The PP and Vox accused him of playing the victim to divert attention from various suspicions and legal cases of corruption and that it is all nothing more than "a show" of the electoral campaign, to mobilize militants and structures of the PSOE, but not only. The two parties anticipate that Sánchez will end up submitting to a motion of confidence in parliament that will force the 'geringonça' of nationalist and pro-independence parties to unite again in support of the Government and the socialists, in order to avoid elections and a turn to the right in the central executive. Be that as it may, the truth is that attention has shifted from Catalonia to Madrid and both Puigdemont and the ERC candidate, Pere Aragonès, addressed Sánchez at the opening rallies of the Catalan campaign, on Thursday night. Both told him that they too had been victims of what they consider to be disinformation campaigns fueled by the Spanish right and far right over the years, because they are pro-independence leaders, but they never gave up. "I am also deeply in love with my wife, but I do not give up when the far right attacks. I stand up to them, always standing", said Aragonès. "We know the Spanish Justice, the patriotic press, better than they [the PSOE] do, nobody has to explain anything to us. As we know them, we leave home already in tears", said Puigdemont, in turn. Read Also: Spanish MP requests dismissal of complaint against Sánchez's wife (Portuguese version)