The internal struggle in Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) between leader Josep-Lluis Carod Rovira and party secretary-general Joan Puigcercós seems to have taken a major turn: Puigcercós, until this morning the Minister of Governance in the Generalitat, has resigned in order to dedicate himself to his party. Or, in other words, to dedicate himself to taking over the party. His replacement will be Jordi Ausàs, currently mayor of La Seu d'Urgell. Carod Rovira vetoed Puigcercós's orginial nomination of his mate, Oliveras as his replacement, apparently citing 'the battle for power' with Puigcercós. ERC faired very badly in the weekend's Spanish general elections, losing more than half of their seats. I believe that Puigcercós ran this disastrous campaign.

Carod Rovira is being interviewed on TV3 right now andis essentially setting out his case for remaining leader of ERC to Els Matins host, Josep Cuní. His case seems to be "Yes, we need to change Esquerra to a party of government, not of opposition, so yes we need to change our policy and the way our party is organised". He has also said some faintly amusing things about his relationship with Puigcercós, like "We talk often, but don't always understand each other".

It remains to be seen whether ERC can drag themselves out of this morasse, and there will be some who hope they don't. But if they can make the necessary changes to make themselves more attractive to moderate voters, that will be good for democracy in Catalonia and in Spain as a whole. Resisting the creep of soporific bi-partisanship is as important as ever.