Unió de Pagesos wins the agricultural elections in Catalonia
20% of the vote was invalid, promoted by Revolta Pagesa
BarcelonaThe farmers' union Unió de Pagesos (UP) has won the 2026 Catalan farmers' elections with 4,417 votes, representing 47% of the total, with 100% of the votes counted. JARC came in second with 2,822 votes, or 30% of the total. The other three parties, which will not obtain representation on the Catalan Farmers' Council, are Asaja with 11% of the vote, Asamblea Pagesa with 5%, and Unió de Petits Agricultors with 1.9%. There were 5% blank votes and almost 20% invalid votes, which were promoted by Revolta Pagesa. Voter turnout was 54.78%, with 11,709 voters. In the previous elections, in 2021, UP obtained 55% of the votes, and JARC 30.15%. Asaja, which obtained 11% of the votes, and UPA, with 2.5%, also failed to secure representation on the Agricultural Board. A total of 21,374 professionals were eligible to vote to choose the organizations and unions they wanted to represent them on government bodies, such as the Agricultural Board, for the next five years. Voting hours were from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Voters could choose between five candidates: Unió de Pagesos (UP) and JARC, which currently have representation on the Agricultural Board, and Asaja, Assemblea Pagesa, and UPA, which were aiming to reach the 15% of the votes needed for representation. Revolta Pagesa, for its part, called for a blank ballot.
Agricultural elections are the mechanism for choosing the organizations and unions that actively participate in dialogue with the Generalitat (the Catalan government) in forums such as the Agricultural Roundtable (created in 2012), the eighteen sectoral roundtables (including those for fruit, flowers and ornamental plants, and Catalonia), and the advisory boards of the national hunting reserves, among others.
Representativeness is established based on the percentage of votes obtained by each candidate. This percentage must reach at least 15% of the votes cast. In the last elections, in 2021, UP (United Left) obtained 55.82% of the votes and 7 representatives on the Agricultural Roundtable, and JARC (Joint Action on Agriculture) obtained 29.16% of the votes and 3 representatives. Asaja (Association of Young Farmers) narrowly missed out with 11.69% of the votes.