The party had its roots in the severe internal crisis affecting the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) following its defeat in the 2010 Catalan regional election and the rise in support for Catalan independence following the 11 September 2012 demonstration. On 15 December 2012, former regional minister and Pasqual Maragall's brother Ernest Maragall, who had left the PSC in October, announced his New Catalan Left (NECat) party, aiming to re-organize the Socialist space in Catalonia with Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) and dissidents from the PSC. In June 2014, the PSC's internal current Avancem, which had been established in May 2012 and was led by deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia Joan Ignasi Elena, split from its mother party and allied with NECat. In July 2014, Catalonia Movement (Moviment Catalunya), a party supported by PSC members Montserrat Tura, Marina Geli and Antoni Castells, among others, was established with the goal of fielding candidates in the 2015 Spanish local elections that supported Catalanism and pro-independence stances.