Josep Anglada opens the door to appear with Aliança in the municipal elections

BarcelonaAliança Catalana (AC) was founded in Ripoll in 2020. Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC) was founded in Vic in 2002. Two decades later, the parties of Silvia Orriols and Josep Anglada, who has now rebranded as Som Identitaris (SOMI), could face each other at the polls in Vic. The two leading figures of the Catalan far right, head to head.

At the height of Aliança's rise, with all polls predicting significant growth in future elections to the Catalan Parliament, Anglada is not so sure, despite having held almost uninterrupted seats on the city council for twenty years. Aware that the capital of Osona is a pro-independence stronghold, the SOMI leader is extending an olive branch to Orriols. And indeed, Aliança was the fourth largest party in the Catalan elections, with 1,400 votes (8.57%), only behind Junts, PSC, and ERC.

"If they want something, the door is open. I have my electorate and I'm very well-known. It's all a matter of talking about it; they know where I am," Anglada told ARA. Despite admitting that he speaks with people from Aliança who attend plenary sessions as members of the public, Anglada maintains that he has not spoken with Orriols nor with the party's number two, Oriol Gès, who How did the ARA advance?He is proposing himself as the mayoral candidate for the city.

Francoist past

The fact that Alianza is a pro-independence party is not an obstacle to seeking understanding, despite Anglada's Francoist past. "Municipal politics has nothing to do with national politics; Alianza's pro-independence stance is not an impediment. We must prioritize the well-being of the people of Vic," says Anglada, who in the 1980s was the trusted advisor in Catalonia of the leader of Fuerza Nueva, Blas Piñar, and was a candidate for that party in the European Parliament in 1989. On Canal 9, the then-leader of PxC confessed: "At this moment, neither in Vic nor in Catalonia are we interested in associating ourselves with anything related to Francoism, the Spanish flag, the eagle, which I hold dear, because we will never get anywhere." Anglada clings to the present and points out that this SOMI term is giving Junts a boost, helping them win votes and becoming the shadow partner of the municipal government. "I also get along with Junts, and they are pro-independence, and in the next term Junts will have to make a pact with me because there has already been a good rapport, and I don't think they will keep all eight councilors."

In fact, Anglada defines himself as "very Catalan" and "nationalist" to rule out any kind of agreement with Vox, which only obtained 189 votes in the municipal elections, a paltry 1.39% of the vote in its debut in Vic. "If Vox called me, I wouldn't even sit down to talk because Vox is too pro-Spanish and goes against the interests of Catalonia." Another compelling reason is that PxC dissolved in 2019 to merge with Santiago Abascal's party. "Some Vox members of Parliament betrayed PxC," he says, referring to the internal crisis that ended with his expulsion from the leadership in 2014 and the creation of the Plataforma Vigatana (PLVI). In his bid to join forces with Aliança, Anglada advocates forming a coalition. A possibility that Aliança rejects. "We will not form any kind of coalition with any party," is all the leadership will say. The top leader of SOMI keeps reminding everyone that he has a loyal electorate. "In Vic they have a problem, and that's Anglada, just like in Manresa with Sergi Perramon." In this regard, he does draw a red line: "I must be the candidate because I'm the well-known face."

Disqualified for two years

With the same xenophobic rhetoric as in his early days, but with a more moderate tone, Anglada returned to the City Council in the last municipal elections. The support of 1,193 residents (8.8%) allowed him to regain his seat and for the number two on the list, Marta Riera, to also win a seat. Four years earlier, in 2019, he had been unable to run because the Provincial Court of Barcelona sentenced him to two years in prison and disqualification from holding public office for threatening a member of Arran Vic on social media when the member was a minor.

The final disqualification sentence came in the middle of the campaign, just six days before the elections, and SOMI had to reprint the ballots because the Electoral Board warned that if anyone voted for a list that included Anglada's name, the ballot would be considered invalid. Without him on the ballot, SOMI failed to win any council seats, obtaining only 511 votes and 2.85% of the vote. Anglada's rise to prominence in the city council began in 2003, capitalizing on the discontent among some residents that Vic's population had grown from 32,000 inhabitants with 10% immigration in 2001 to almost 40,000. In the second election, Anglada won a council seat with 1,229 votes and 7.5% of the vote. In 2007, PxC became the second largest party, with 4 councilors and 18.5% of the vote. In 2011, they increased their representation to 5 councilors, with almost 3,000 votes (19.94%). Despite being expelled from the party and the rise of the Process, in 2015, with his new brand, Plataforma Vigatana, he retained his seat on the city council and garnered 1,836 votes (5.6%).