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full screen Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont. Archive image. Photo: Gloria Calvi/AP/TT
The Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont wants to become leader again in the Spanish region of Catalonia.
– I have decided to stand in the election, he tells supporters in Elne, France, just a few miles from the Spanish coast.
Puigdemont, regional president in 2016-2017, led an illegal independence bid from Spain and has since lived in exile in Belgium from where the Spanish government has tried unsuccessfully to extradite him.
Last week, the country’s Chamber of Deputies voted yes to a law on amnesty, allowing him to return to Spain. Just days later, the separatist party Junt said it wants to see Puigdemont as the party’s candidate in regional elections on May 12.