Jordi Martí communicates to the Junts leadership that he will fight internally to be a candidate for Barcelona

BarcelonaThe election of Junts' candidate for Barcelona City Council is not only unresolved but also complicated. As ARA has learned, the party's spokesperson in the council, Jordi Martí, has informed the leadership of his decision to run in an eventual primary election and fight for the candidacy. This intention clashes with the will of Junts' top brass to appoint a candidate without an internal dispute. In fact, after receiving rejections from independents such as businessman Tatxo Benet or former president Artur Mas and former minister Joaquim Forn, the leadership's most likely option was the spokesperson, Josep Rius. The right-hand man of Carles Puigdemont since he was President of the Generalitat.

Martí's intention to run in a primary election would imply 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 city council, is well-received by the grassroots. This week saw Martí's latest move, confirming his intentions from the outset, which is to run, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. This has caught the leadership off guard, as they anticipated an agreement to reach a consensus candidate. In any case, sources from the leadership 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 sources familiar with the matter, despite the offers made to Martí in conversations with him, he has not accepted third ways that involved abandoning the fight for leadership. He wants to go all in or nothing, 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 30th in Vilafranca del Penedès, but the shuffling of names and the fact that the internal body to choose him has not yet been constituted,

as Nació reported

, makes it unfeasible. The fact that Martí reaffirms his intention to run in the primaries further entangles the situation in Barcelona, as it implies he will not yield to the leadership's desire for a single candidate. What Junts' Secretary General, Jordi Turull, has committed to is having him "before summer," but now there is only one month left.

Complex stage

The capital of Catalonia has gone from being the jewel in Junts' electoral crown in 2023 to dragging frustration and setbacks since the PSC's triangulation with Comuns and PP to prevent Xavier Trias from becoming mayor. From the outset, due to the failure to choose personalities with public projection, the battle has been narrowed down to just two names, Josep Rius and Jordi Martí, in an ongoing tug-of-war. Martí is the preferred choice of the national leadership and, in particular, is close to Puigdemont and numerous cadres, but the primary election scenario makes everything unpredictable, leaving it 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 amid the struggle between two factions of the party. However, the local committee elections reaffirmed the faction of the current leader, Jordi Sendra, with more than two-thirds of the membership, and this sector has also claimed the primaries, in the same way as the critics.