Aliança Catalana seduces the most "neglected" regions of Lleida and Girona

Girona / LleidaThe latest barometer from the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO) has confirmed a widespread feeling In inland Catalonia: the rise of Aliança Catalana (AC) on the Catalan political scene, positioning it as the third strongest force in hypothetical regional elections. But that's not all. In the provinces of Lleida and Girona—from which the party's two current (and only) representatives in the Catalan Parliament hail: Sílvia Orriols, mayor of Ripoll, and Rosa Maria Soberana, from Vinaixa (Les Garrigues)—it would become the leading party. But what are the reasons behind this apparent exponential growth of Aliança in the Girona and Lleida regions?

From the outset, most analysts consulted by ARA, besides emphasizing the need to situate the Catalan case within the global far-right wave, understand that the inhabitants of the Eix Transversal regions (from Segrià to Gironès) have a sense of being excluded. "They feel they don't have the same opportunities as in the metropolises, that they don't enjoy the same public services, and they see how job opportunities are concentrated in the big cities," argues political scientist Jordi Muñoz, who was director of the CEO between 2021 and 2024. He continues: "The political geography of Catalonia explains it: in towns and small and medium-sized cities, more than in the big cities."

Small and medium-sized municipalities that feel "forgotten by God"

Regarding the situation in Lleida, Mariona Lladonosa, PhD in sociology and professor at the University of Lleida, explains that Aliança Catalana "has been able to channel very well the growing perception of socio-economic precarity" in regions with "a large migratory presence", to the paradoxical point that "racism is growing in a territory that exploits immigrants for labor".

Joana Soto, professor of sociology and communication at the University of Lleida, who has worked with Lladonosa, also emphasizes that "the lack of public policies has generated a perception of displacement and the feeling that the known world is falling apart." All of this, in the Ponent region, has forged "a very specific character" which, in the words of the Segrià-born philosopher Ferran Sàez, reflects a perception of being "forsaken by God" in a context of excessive bureaucracy in rural areas, migratory pressure, and family values that traditionally form part of the rural character. "The populist right historically gains ground in areas with inadequate healthcare, where basic services are not guaranteed," says Antoni Gelonch, a lawyer from Lleida and a keen observer of the far-right phenomenon in France.

Meanwhile, in the Girona region, the feeling of neglect may not be as intense as in Lleida, but the perception has also taken hold that, in a short time, the human landscape of rural municipalities like Arbúcies, La Bisbal d'Empordà, Olot, and Ripoll has changed radically. The same is true in Figueres and some areas of Girona city. "We have obvious problems such as the decline in the social use of Catalan and the housing crisis, which is fundamental, since it involves a series of factors, such as more people living on the streets, in worse conditions, and in many cases, people who have come from elsewhere, which creates this feeling of threat," argues Maximiliano Fuentes, history professor at the University of Girona. expert on the rise of fascism in the 20th century. In response, Aliança, although it has an "ultraliberal economic program, close to the Trump and Milei models", instead of proposing an integrative point of view, Fuentes highlights that it proposes "to return to a glorious past that is nonexistent and unviable, from the time of Guifré el Pilós, even though no city in the world or country works."

The Disenchantment of the Process

The second key factor explaining the shift of votes towards Silvia Orriols' party is the failure of the independence process, particularly evident in Girona, where, according to Fuentes, "hope was stronger than elsewhere and where everything has ended with an ever-deepening disillusionment." Mariona Lladonosa and Joana Soto, from Lleida, have just published a book precisely on this thesis. The color of discordAn analysis that attributes the rise of the far right to the failure of October 1st. "What was once a Catalan nationalism rooted in social tradition has now become identity-based and Islamophobic," Lladonosa argues.

However, the historian Josep Maria Muñoz, author of the book An infinite sorrow (2025), regarding the last 50 years of Catalan politics, and a keen observer of the Olot region, clarifies that the exodus of pro-independence supporters to Alianza does not mean that voters have become xenophobic or that they were already potentially so: "To think that this surge is the final twist of the other side's frustration, which wants to portray the pro-independence supporters as a group of racists and Carlists from the mountains of Olot, Ripoll, and Vic," he argues. And he adds: "It has more to do with a protest vote against the traditional parties." Muñoz, likewise, regarding the CEO results, emphasizes that we must "be careful not to inflate the balloon and create a self-fulfilling prophecy; historically we have seen parties with this kind of surge, a golden age, that then become extra-parliamentary."

Protest vote against traditional parties

The protest vote is, therefore, the third primary reason for the map: both against left-wing parties, incapable, even from within the state government, of implementing decisive policies to address challenges such as housing, and especially against the pro-independence parties that failed to complete the process, according to the experts consulted. And the party that seems to be suffering most from this punishment is Junts, which, according to Josep Maria Muñoz, is no longer able to encompass the entire spectrum of the former Convergència and, "as a result of the repression, has a very serious leadership problem with Carles Puigdemont."

At this point, Antoni Strubell, from Empordà, former member of parliament for Solidaridad and member of the ANC, also highlights another key factor: "The August 17 attacks, the reaction to the traumatic event, the presence of a jihadist squad in Ripoll, and the fact that the State has obstructed any investigation into the left, such as the DGAIA case."