Jordi Martí communicates to Junts' leadership that he will wage an internal battle to be a candidate for Barcelona

BarcelonaThe choice of Junts' candidate for Barcelona City Council is not only unresolved but also complicated. As ARA has learned, the party's spokesperson in the consistory, Jordi Martí, has informed the leadership of his decision to run in a potential primary and fight for the position. This intention clashes with Junts' leadership's desire to appoint a candidate without an internal dispute. In fact, after receiving a 'no' from independents like the businessman Tatxo Benet or former president Artur Mas and former minister Joaquim Forn, the leadership's most likely option was the spokesperson, Josep Rius. Carles Puigdemont's right-hand man since he was President of the Generalitat.

Martí's intention to run in a primary would mean a vote in the Barcelona federation between him and Josep Rius. A scenario that Junts' top leaders wanted to avoid because Martí, a veteran of the Catalan capital's consistory, is well-received by the grassroots. This week saw Martí's latest move, confirming his intentions from the outset, which are to run, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. This has caught the leadership off guard, as they anticipated an agreement for a consensus candidate. In any case, leadership sources maintain that "there is no news" on the matter nor a date to present a mayoral candidate. A "nothing to say" that does not hide the latest developments. According to informed sources, despite the offers made to Martí in conversations with him, he has not accepted third-way options that involved withdrawing from the leadership race. He wants to go all in, listening to the grassroots.

Now the leadership will have to consider the next step. The candidate was expected to be presented at the municipal convention on May 30 in Vilafranca del Penedès, but the shuffling of names and the fact that the internal body to choose them has not yet been constituted, as Nació reported, makes it unfeasible. The fact that Martí is reaffirming his desire to run in the primaries further entrenches the situation in Barcelona, as it implies he will not yield to the leadership's wish for a single candidate. Junts' general secretary, Jordi Turull, has committed to having a candidate "before the summer," but now there is only one month left.

Complex stage

The capital of Catalonia has gone from being Junts' electoral crown jewel in 2023 to dragging frustration and fluctuations since the PSC's triangulation with Comuns and the PP to prevent Xavier Trias from becoming mayor. From the outset, due to the failure to elect personalities with public projection, the battle has been narrowed down to just two names, Josep Rius and Jordi Martí, in a tug-of-war that has not ceased. Martí is the preferred by the national leadership and, in particular, is close to Puigdemont and numerous cadres, but the primary election scenario makes everything unpredictable and has left everything at the mercy of the Barcelona federation.

The fact that the national spokesperson and vice-president of the party is risking it all is an uncomfortable element within the party. The directive to avoid primaries was also attempted in Tarragona, given that the leadership seriously considered choosing a consensus candidate amidst the struggle between two factions of the party. But the local committee elections endorsed the faction of the current leader, Jordi Sendra, with more than two-thirds of the membership, and this sector has also claimed primaries, in the same way as the critics.