Gabriel Rufián Romero (born 8 February 1982) is a Spanish politician. In the Spanish general election of 2015 he led the

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia (, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also in Valencia, the Balearic Islands and t ...

, a pro-independence electoral party. He is also a member of the secretariat of the

Assemblea Nacional Catalana The Assemblea Nacional Catalana (in English: Catalan National Assembly, ANC by its Catalan acronym) is an organization that seeks the political independence of Catalonia from Spain. It also promotes the independence of other Catalan-speaking reg ...

and a member of Súmate, two other pro-independence groups. In the 2016 general election, he was elected to the Spanish Cortes Generales for the constituency of Barcelona. On 20 September 2017, in support of the Catalan referendum on independence on 1 October, he told

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

to "take his dirty hands off Catalan institutions", after the

Judiciary of Spain The Judiciary of Spain consists of Courts and Tribunals, composed of judges and magistrates (Justices), who have the power to administer justice in the name of the King of Spain. Law The Spanish legal system is a civil law (legal system), civil ...

arrested several Catalan politicians as part of

Operation Anubis The Operation Anubis was a police operation in Catalonia, Spain, initiated on 20 September 2017 by the Civil Guard (Spain), Civil Guard following orders of the trial court number 13 of Barcelona, directed by judge Juan Antonio Ramírez Sunyer. Its ...

. Later he and several other Catalan politicians walked out of the parliament in protest. In September 2018, Rufián was part of a one-hour question time directed towards the former premier

José María Aznar José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spai ...

. In the

2023 Spanish general election A General elections in Spain, general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 23 July 2023, to elect the members of the 15th Cortes Generales. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Sen ...

, Rufián again led the

as the ERC's leading candidate. The 2023 election saw a significant defeat for the ERC, losing 6 of the party's 13 seats in the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

. Rufián hailed the election results, declaring "If they want to govern their country, they will have to respect ours", referencing the potential

kingmaker A kingmaker is a person or group that has great influence on a monarchy or royal in their political succession, without themselves being a viable candidate. Kingmakers may use political, monetary, religious, and military means to influence the ...

role, which pro-independence parties held after the contentious election.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rufian, Gabriel 1982 births Living people Pompeu Fabra University alumni Politicians from Barcelona Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain)