 He combined his work as minister with the post of First Secretary of the PSC and member of the Federal Executive of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).After Pasqual Maragall announced that he would not stand again as candidate for president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the National Committee of the PSC elected him as candidate for the presidency of Catalonia in the elections of 1 November 2006.In these elections no party obtained an absolute majority, and the PSC won only the second-largest number of seats after Convergence and Union (CiU); however, the PSC again reached an agreement with ERC and Iniciativa per Catalunya to form a coalition government, with Montilla at its head.