Franco's death initiated a period that came to be known as the "democratic transition", during which democratic liberties were restored, culminating in the Spanish Constitution of 1978. This constitution recognized the existence of multiple national communities within Spain and proposed the division of the country into autonomous communities. After the first general election in 1977 the Generalitat was restored as a provisional government, headed by its president in exile Josep Tarradellas, and including representatives of the various leading forces of the time. In 1979, the new Statute of Autonomy was finally approved delegating more autonomy in matters of education and culture than the Republican 1932 Statute, but less in terms of the systems of justice and public order. In it, Catalonia is defined as a "nationality", Catalan is recognized as Catalonia's own language, and became co-official with Spanish. First election to the Parliament of Catalonia under this Statute gave the Catalan presidency to Jordi Pujol, a position he would hold until 2003. During this time he also led Convergència i Unió (Convergence and Unity, CiU) a center-right Catalan nationalist electoral coalition consisting of his own Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (Democratic Convergence of Catalonia, CDC) and the smaller and more conservative Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (Democratic Union of Catalonia, UDC).