Catalan Alliance signs up the promoter of the motion of no confidence against Laporta

BarcelonaAnother former Junts leader joins Aliança Catalana. And not just anyone. Oriol Giralt, the former head of Junts' list in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres in both 2023 and 2019, will be the candidate for Sílvia Orriols' party in the Maresme town. Giralt is not known for his political career, but for being the FC Barcelona member who in 2008 promoted a motion of no confidence against Joan Laporta.

A lawyer specializing in sports law, Giralt put the current blaugrana president on the ropes. He managed to get 60% of the 39,000 members who voted to endorse the motion, while 37% voted against it, leaving Giralt just six points away from Laporta having to call elections by statute. Laporta was able to remain in office and signed Josep Guardiola as coach, who would achieve the first treble in the history of the blaugrana club.

He has combined his passion for Barça with his political activism. At a very young age, he joined the Joventut Nacionalista de Catalunya (JNC) and later joined Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC), a party with which he held political responsibilities in the Barcelona district of Les Corts between 1987 and 1991. After the 1-O referendum, in the municipal elections of 2019 and 2023, he was the head of Junts in Llavaneres.

After the PSC won the elections and formed a government with the PP and an independent party, Giralt did not stay with Junts for even two months. He stopped militating in Carles Puigdemont's party and left the municipal group on July 28, 2023, becoming a non-attached councilor. He did so without explaining whether his decision was motivated by disagreements with the local leadership, the national leadership, or for personal reasons. One year before the next elections, Giralt has decided to try his luck again, but now with Aliança. "We must put Llavaneres back at the center of decisions, protect what defines us as a people, and build a future thinking about future generations," stated the candidate in a press release sent by the Islamophobic party.