Northern Catalonia raises a red flag: "It's not enough to call them fascists"

BarcelonaThe far right is not making as much progress as it would like across France, but it is gaining new municipalities and strengthening its position in Northern Catalonia. National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen's party, already secured the mayorship of Perpignan a week ago with an absolute majority in the first round, and this Sunday it won in the second round of the municipal elections In Ribesaltes and Cañoses, in Roussillon. The far-right politician Steve Fortel also won in Elna, and Gilles Foxonet, another far-right politician, retained his position in Baixàs. "It's a lesson for the future of Catalonia and Spain: simply calling them fascists isn't enough," former mayor of Elna Nicolas Garcia told ARA. "We Catalans can't win," added Forques councilor Jordi Vera, who emphasized that 60% of the population comes from outside Northern Catalonia.

In Perpignan, the most populated city, with more than 120,000 inhabitants, Louis Aliot's victory It was already predicted that the far right would advance, consolidating its position in Northern Catalonia as one of its strongholds. This Sunday, it proved this with Julien Potel's first-place finish in Ribesaltes, a town of over 9,000 people. The National Renewal (RN) candidate secured 45% of the vote, ahead of Amélie Parraud (35%) and Laurianne Rawcliffe (20%), both from the left. Meanwhile, Le Pen's Carla Muti won the mayoralty of Cañoses (population over 6,000) with 40% of the vote, ahead of Gilles Trilles (33%), from the left, and Denis Fourcade (27%), from the right. These two victories strengthen the RN within the Perpignan Mediterrània Metropoli metropolitan area, and, according to media such as L'Indépendant, They give Aliot options for the presidency of the entity.

Particularly significant is the victory of the far right in Elna. A traditional stronghold of the left, it was governed until now by the long-serving communist and Catalan nationalist mayor, Nicolas Garcia. The municipality, home to the famous Swiss maternity hospital, is now in the hands of the far-right Fortel party, which in this case is not part of the National Rally (Réagrupament Nacional). In the second round, Fortel secured 48% of the vote, defeating the leftist candidate and Garcia's successor, André Tribes (41%), and the centrist Marie-Ange Izquierdo (11%). The fact that this third list did not withdraw in the second round split the vote against the far right.

"Historically, this isn't new because the far right has won every time, aside from the elections I've run in," García recalls, referring to the unique aspect, until now, of the municipal elections. In 1992, the National Front already obtained more than 45% of the vote in legislative elections in Elna, and Marine Le Pen won the last presidential election there with 61.3% of the vote. Thus, García maintains that "we have to fight against the problems of housing, order, security, and wages if we want to resist" because "if you build a shitty society, people will vote for shitty ones." He argues that Elna and surrounding northern Catalan towns have "social problems" and also "Islamic, Latin American, and very poor immigration, which adds to unemployment and rural disaffection." He even suggests that "some Spanish voters" have "punished" him for "having defended the freedom of Catalonia." The third list was presented, in his opinion, due to a "personal" clash with him.

Catalanist victories

Meanwhile, of the mayors battling for the use of Catalan in municipal council meetings—with defeats in the Montpellier jurisdiction—three have retained their mandates: those of Sant Andreu Sureda, Portvendres, and els Banys i Palaldà, while defeats have beenfallen in Elna and Tarerac. Furthermore, in Prats de Molló, the centrist Claudi Ferrer—an independent with Catalan nationalist leanings—will continue to govern, and the left has held firm in Cabestany with the communist Édith Pugnet and has won the mayorship of Prada (Conflent), traditionally conservative, with Aude Vivès. Catalan nationalist parties, on the other hand, have won the mayorship in Millars—population 4,000—with Josep Olive of Unitat Catalana, and Maria Costa has also won in els Banys, while Romain Garrigue, who is close to Unitat Catalana, won in the small village of Montner. Meanwhile, in Finestret, the outgoing mayor, Stéphane Gilmant, linked to Sí al País Català, a party that also won the mayorship of Rigardà with Anthony Reyes, has won again.

The first deputy mayor of the Finestret City Council, Alexandre Panó (Yes to the Catalan Country), from the vantage point of victory says that it must be taken into account that it is "the second poorest department", with a "high unemployment" of 12.7% according to official data (4.8 points higher than in France as a whole) and "there are many people from outside Northern Catalonia, some of whom are retirees who come to retire and who have more conservative attitudes".

Jordi Vera, the opposition councilor for Forques and leader of the Catalan nationalist party, after losing the mayoral race, points out that the fact that 60% of the population is of foreign origin contributes to "a disaffected vote." The "massive influx" of citizens from northern France, concentrated in the Roussillon plain—where the National Rally (RN) vote is strong—influences the results, as do the piednoirs —descendants of Algerian settlers, some strongly "anti-Catalan"—. This, coupled with the disappearance of the traditional right wing, leads them to "vote against the system," "out of racism," "out of "fear of losing their identity," or "out of social resentment." "We Catalans cannot win any election based on population," he concludes.