Popular Unity Candidates
Encyclopedia
The Popular Unity Candidatures are independentist
Catalan independentism
Catalan independentism is a political movement, derived from Catalan nationalism, which supports the independence of Catalonia or the so-called Catalan countries from Spain and France...

 candidatures running in the territorial frame which they define as "Catalan Countries
Catalan Countries
The Catalan term Països Catalans refers to the territories where the Catalan language is spoken.The first mentions of the term date back to the late 19th century, but it never surpassed the limits of a small circle of Catalan authors until its strictly cultural dimension became increasingly...

". These candidatures focus their political action on municipalities
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

.

These candidates are not organized as the traditional political parties do, but are instead based on deliberative democracy
Deliberative democracy
Deliberative democracy is a form of democracy in which public deliberation is central to legitimate lawmaking. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. Deliberative democracy differs from traditional democratic theory in that authentic deliberation, not mere...

; different PUCs may have differences amongst themselves, with their common ground being Catalan independence from a straightforward left wing position, often the ones of Eco-socialism
Eco-socialism
Eco-socialism, green socialism or socialist ecology is an ideology merging aspects of Marxism, socialism, green politics, ecology and alter-globalization...

 or Libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism is a group of political philosophies that promote a non-hierarchical, non-bureaucratic, stateless society without private property in the means of production...

.

The different locally raised candidatures are coordinated around the Municipality Assembly of the Independentist Left (AMEI in Catalan) where the working and ideological proposals of their programs are discussed. Their lines are centered upon deepening participative democracy, improving social equality
Social equality
Social equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect. At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and the...

, "the national building of the Catalan Countries", promotion of sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...

 politics and associative network.

Their present incarnation first appeared in 2000, with their precedents being similar candidates that appeared in 1979 during the first Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 municipality elections after Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

's death, which were especially critical of the direction taken during the Spanish Transition.

Currently
Spanish regional elections, 2007
A number of elections were held in Spain on 27 May 2007:* municipal elections;* local elections of various types like the elections to the Cabildo on the Canary Islands;* elections to the Assembly of Ceuta and Melilla; and...

, they hold a total of 26 council seats on 17 different municipalities in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, these were achieved either under the CUP name only or in coalition with local political parties.
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