Aliança Catalana's 'casting' to choose candidates for the municipal elections

BarcelonaIn the last municipal elections, Aliança Catalana, making its debut, only ran in three towns, and in all three—Ripoll, Manlleu, and Ribera de Ondara—it won seats. However, in the latter two towns, the lead candidates are no longer councilors. The leadership distanced itself after various controversies and disagreements. They were right, then, about where to field candidates, but not about choosing the right ones to lead them.

Aware of the strengths and weaknesses of three years ago, the far-right pro-independence party will not field candidates haphazardly and already has a plan underway. casting to choose their representatives. The Islamophobic party, which all polls predict will experience significant growth in future parliamentary elections, knows it has a lot riding on the upcoming municipal elections and must flex its muscles across the region. But it won't do so at any cost, opting instead for reliable and capable candidates in municipalities where it already has a presence.

"We won't field candidates haphazardly," the party leader, Sílvia Orriols, repeatedly emphasizes. The objective involves concentrating efforts in those municipalities with the best chance of influencing local policies. Priority will be given to municipalities that share "the same paradigm as Ripoll" and where citizens "are demanding a change in current policies," especially regarding immigration. In this regard, Orriols has already stated that they will only run in municipalities where they have "strong candidates" and where they can aspire to win the largest possible number of council seats. This explains why Manlleu, one of the three strongholds of Aliança, is in danger due to lack of candidates, as reported by the ARATo prevent its future representatives from deviating from the established guidelines, as has already happened to Vox, the Aliança leadership has agreed to control the selection of candidates. This was approved at the first municipal convention, held two weeks ago in Ripoll, with an amendment to the statutes. It was agreed that in municipalities with fewer than 30,000 inhabitants, candidates would be proposed by the local or regional committees, and in larger municipalities, by the governing committee—that is, directly by the leadership. In practice, however, the governing committee will validate all candidacies, because it was the body that approved the formation of the regional executive committees, and their presidents are trusted confidants of Oriol Gès, the party's organizing secretary and a key figure in the region. In the regional branches where the elected presidents or presidents have distanced themselves from the leadership, such as in Maresme and TarragonesThese leaders have ultimately relinquished their leadership. Previously, the top leaders of Vallès Oriental, Joan Antoni Altimira, and of Baix Ebre, Joan Carles Antó, also stepped down from their positions, as ARA has learned. In the latter region, the new president is Eduard Rel, who was deputy first secretary of the PSC in Tortosa and is now running for mayor of the most important city on the Ebro River. Many of these leaders will, barring any surprises, become candidates for their respective municipalities. This is the case of Marina Quintana, A former councilor for Junts in Roda de Ter, who had run as an independent candidate, entered the City Council while already serving as president of Aliança in Osona, because the lead candidate ceded the position to her mid-term. Other councilors who have switched to Aliança this term will also be the mayoral candidates in their municipalities, provided they create a list without candidates from outside the town. Let's talk about the former republican Eduard Àngel in Amer, the town of Carles Puigdemont, and of Judith Vinyes in Berga, who was also from an independent group and whose entry into Aliança caused that The party's promoters in the capital of Berguedà will leave en masseAmong those who left was Anna de Haro, who was slated to be the regional president.

Reluctance to be candidates

Orriols summarized on Tuesday at the Fòrum Catalunya Nueva Economía conference how they are looking for candidates: "There are people who have approached us because they already hold positions and want to run under our banner, and others we will seek out in the hope that the political isolation measures won't prevent them from joining." But Aliança knows that the real battleground is the four provincial capitals. And here they are looking for high-profile signings that will make a splash and project an image of centrism.

This will be the case in Barcelona, ​​where Orriols has already indicated that it will be "a well-known figure," without giving further clues because they want to present him on Sant Jordi's Day, along with the other lead candidates from the three capitals. The party had previously approached Jaume Giró, but the former Minister of Economy. He refused the offer."There are people who have told us no, business owners who don't want to get involved. The stigma attached to us means that potential candidates aren't convinced, and we're just trying to get by as best we can," Orriols acknowledged during the discussion at the Palace Hotel. One of the names that has also been mentioned as a mayoral candidate for Barcelona is the publicist Lluís Carrasco, but in a conversation with ARA, he denies that he could be: "My conversations with Aliança are as an agency, not as a candidate." Beyond the four provincial capitals, Aliança will seek to turn inland Catalonia blue. It is here that Aliança Catalana gained strength in the last parliamentary elections, with its epicenter in the Lleida region and Girona, where it won its two seats. This presence can be seen, more or less, along the Transversal Axis. Here he could build his lists with Gès as the mayoral candidate in Vic, and the advisor in Parliament and former ERC councilor, Jordi Coma, in Olot, if the regional president, Susana Sala, doesn't end up being the candidate.