[6][7] A snap election loomed over the horizon for several months as Torra announced his will to call one after the court rulings,[8] but the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain stalled these plans.

[9] On 28 September 2020, the TSJC's ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court of Spain, finally disqualifying Torra from office and paving the way for a regional election to be called for early 2021.

[10] Puigdemont announced his intention to lead the lists of his new Together for Catalonia (JxCat) party into the election, with former regional Culture minister Laura Borràs being selected as presidential candidate.

[b] Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Catalonia and in full enjoyment of their political rights.

[22] The 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency.

[21] The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since a previous one under this procedure.

[28][29] The risk existed that, in the meantime, the Supreme Court issued a firm ruling on Torra's disqualification that removed him from the president's office and thus deprived him of the prerogative of parliament dissolution.

[31] This in turn precipitated the end of the legislature in Galicia, with regional president Alberto Núñez Feijóo announcing a snap election to be held simultaneously with the Basque one.

[35][36] Torra's disqualification[37] in late September led to the Catalan parliament agreeing to not appoint a replacement candidate for the regional premiership; with a parliamentary act being published on 21 October confirming such situation and starting the two month-legally established timetable until the automatic dissolution of the chamber; the election was scheduled to be held on 14 February 2021.

[40][41] However, after a legal challenge due to perceived irregularities in the decree, on 19 January the High Court of Justice of Catalonia decided to suspend the effects of the decision, with the election provisionally set to be held on the original 14 February date.

[72] On 31 January 2020, Cs spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies Inés Arrimadas hinted at the possibility of such agreement being exported to Galicia and the Basque Country as well under the "Better United" umbrella (Spanish: Mejor Unidos), excluding Vox from such arrangement.

[75][76] Finally, with the snap election being confirmed for 14 February 2021, it was announced that no such alliance would be formed,[77] after the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) had declined a similar offer from Cs to join into such a platform.

[86][87] By mid-to-late July, Puigdemont's allies had been publicly calling for disgruntled members within a deeply-fractured PDeCAT to join their new JxCat party upon its founding congress,[36][88][89] leading Independence Rally (RI.cat) to forfeit its collaboration agreement with the former, which it had maintained since 2013.

[102][103] On 23 July, Lliures, CNV and LD announced the creation of a joint commission to begin the drafting of a future electoral programme and invited Units, the PNC and the "moderate" sectors still in the PDeCAT, who favoured an alliance outside of Puigdemont's sphere of influence,[104] to join into "a broad centre alternative that included Catalanists and sovereignists.

[113] In a surprise move on 30 December 2020, PSC leader Miquel Iceta announced that he would be stepping down as his party's leading candidate in the election, instead proposing incumbent Health minister Salvador Illa, who had borne the brunt of the Spanish government's management of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the post.

[15] The move was interpreted as a high-risk gamble from the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), and from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in particular, to push for PSC's outright win in the regional election and put an end to the bloc politics that had settled down in Catalonia for the previous decade.