Carles Puigdemont, who led Catalonia’s failed secession in 2017 and lives in exile, announced on Thursday that he will run again in regional elections on May 12 to lead Catalonia, although he faces arrest if he returns to Spain, Reuters reported.

“It’s time to be (in Catalonia). Let it be clear that my goal is to complete the independence process that I started in October 2017,” Puigdemont said in a speech in the French town of Alain, about 30 kilometers from the border. with Spain

Puigdemont, who is the founder of the separatist Junts party, is the subject of an arrest warrant in Spain after Catalonia’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2017 was ruled illegal by the courts.

The demand for independence prompted Madrid to impose direct rule during Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades.

Puigdemont, 61, fled Spain to avoid arrest on charges of insubordination and embezzlement and lives in Belgium, where he is a member of the European Parliament.

But he could return to Spain to take up the post under a separatist amnesty announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists in exchange for separatist votes to prop up their minority national government.

If he were to win the election in Catalonia, it would be a blow to Sánchez’s government, which is already under fire for approving the amnesty.

A separatist amnesty bill has been registered in the Spanish legislature despite widespread protests against the measure.

The amnesty for Catalan separatists has been sharply criticized by Spain’s General Council of Magistrates, the body that elects top judges, which has publicly expressed grave concern about the move.

The Socialists are currently leading the polls to wrest the regional leadership of Catalonia from the separatists, and officials say they are not worried about the prospect of Puigdemont running.

In power since 2018, Sánchez pardoned Catalan separatist leaders two years ago, but has repeatedly ruled out amnesty.