At the regional elections held on 21 December 2017, Puigdemont's party, Together for Catalonia, was second, and Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority of seats and 47.6% of votes.

[10][11][12][13][14] On 25 March 2018, he was detained by the Autobahnpolizei (highway patrol) acting on his European Arrest Warrant in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

[19] Following the German court decision, on 19 July 2018, Spain dropped the European arrest warrants against Puigdemont and other Catalan officials in self-exile.

[31] Puigdemont received basic education in Amer before, aged nine, he was sent to study at the Church-run Santa Maria del Collell boarding school in Girona where he was taught in Spanish and "learned to be a fighter".

[26] After school Puigdemont joined the University College of Girona to study Catalan philology but dropped out to pursue a career in journalism.

Beginning in 1988, Puigdemont started collecting references about Catalonia in the international press, material that resulted in the publication of the 1994 book Cata... què?

[36] Puigdemont left journalism to devote himself fully to politics in 2006 when the Convergence and Union (CiU) electoral alliance invited him to be a candidate for the Parliament of Catalonia.

[47] He was a member of executive committee of the Association of Municipalities for Independence and in July 2015 succeeded Josep Maria Vila d'Abadal as its chair.

[25][36][48] Following a last-minute agreement between pro-Catalan independence parties Junts pel Sí and Popular Unity Candidacy to replace Artur Mas due in part to the various alleged cases of corruption and the austerity cuts under his government,[49][50] Puigdemont was elected the 130th [disputed – discuss][verification needed][51][52][25][36][53][54][55][56] President of Catalonia on 10 January 2016.

[60][61] The Catalan Parliament passed legislation on 6 September 2017 authorising the referendum which would be binding and based on a simple majority without a minimum threshold.

[76][77] Almost immediately the Senate of Spain invoked article 155 of the constitution, dismissing Puigdemont and the Catalan government and imposing direct rule on Catalonia.

[78][79] The following day Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved the Catalan Parliament and called for fresh regional elections on 21 December 2017.

[80][81] On 30 October 2017 Spanish Attorney General José Manuel Maza laid charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds at the Audiencia Nacional against Puigdemont and other members of the Catalan government.

[92][93] On 3 November 2017 a Spanish judge issued European Arrest Warrants against Comín, Clara Ponsatí i Obiols, Lluís Puig, Puigdemont and Serret after they failed to attend a high court hearing in Madrid the previous day.

[103][104] While remaining self-exiled,[13][14] Puigdemont contested the 2017 regional election as a Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) electoral alliance candidate in the Province of Barcelona and was re-elected to Parliament.

[115][116] On 25 March 2018, while returning to Brussels from a trip to Finland, Puigdemont was stopped in Germany near the Danish border and arrested pursuant to the European warrant that had been reissued against him two days previously.

In January 2019 Puigdemont filed a constitutional application for amparo directed against the president of the Catalan parliament, Roger Torrent and the Board of the Chamber.

[125] Following the April 2019 arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Puigdemont said that "Human rights, and especially freedom of expression, are under attack once again in Europe.

However, he refused to attend the act of observance of the Spanish Constitution before the Junta Electoral Central in Madrid, a requirement to acquire a certificate as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

[134] Also in January 2020, Spanish Supreme Court judge Manuel Marchena proceeded to file an application before EP President David Sassoli in order to revoke the immunity of Puigdemont and Comín.

According to a source from the Moroccan foreign ministry, the decision was made in due to "the principle of reciprocity to host the Catalan independence leader" after Sahrawi President Brahim Ghali was allowed to go to Spain to get treated for COVID-19.

[139][140] The purpose of the trip was to meet with Algheresi authorities and Sardinian separatist and at the same time to attend the Aplec International in Adifolk which was to take place in the "Barceloneta of Sardinia" between 24 and 26 September.

One day after his release, during a press conference Puigdemont announced that he would attend an oral hearing scheduled to take place on 4 October in the Sassari court, together with his lawyer Gonzalo Boye.

[138][142] On 8 August 2024, Puigdemont made a return to Spain after seven years in self-imposed exile in Belgium,[143] delivering a defiant speech at the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona advocating for Catalonia's right to self-determination before quickly disappearing, sparking a large-scale police operation.

[144] The Catalan police set up roadblocks and arrested an officer whose car was reportedly used in Puigdemont's escape, raising questions about the force's involvement.

This incident coincided with the investiture of Salvador Illa as the new Catalan president, marking a shift in the region's political focus from sovereignty to social issues.

Puigdemont's reappearance and subsequent disappearance have further complicated the political landscape, drawing sharp criticism from opposition leaders who view the event as damaging to Spain's image.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo described Puigdemont's stunt as "an unbearable humiliation", and Santiago Abascal from Vox described it as "the destruction of the state beamed live on Spanish television".

[145] One of the founders of the youth organization of the right-of-centre Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) in the province of Girona, Puigdemont has associated himself since then with the most staunchly pro-independence faction in the party.

In September 2021, the European Parliament, which had previously lifted the parliamentary immunity of Puigdemont, launched a deeper investigation into the possible criminal implications of such contacts.