Marc Puigtió renounces being ERC's mayoral candidate in Girona after the audio leak
Admits "a serious error" but defends that he steps aside for "dignity" and warns of the "normalization" of recording and disseminating private conversations
BarcelonaThe until now ERC candidate for mayor in Girona, Marc Puigtió, has resigned this Thursday from being the Republicans' candidate for the city. He resigns one day after the party leadership opened an information file against him following the leak of audios in which he could be heard planning to get rid of the local leadership and the current councillors. In statements to the ACN, Puigtió justified the decision by "dignity and responsibility" and acknowledged having made "a serious mistake", for which he assumes the consequences. Now, according to sources consulted from the Republicans in Girona, the party will have to reconvene primaries to choose its candidate for mayor of the city. So far, however, they have not set a calendar.
The until now candidate has conveyed his concern about the "normalization" of practices such as "recording, editing, and disseminating private conversations". Puigtió insisted that he is stepping aside because "the project" of ERC in Girona is "more important" than himself, and that he did not assume the leadership of the party in the city "to cling" to the position. "I do it with sadness, but with the peace of mind of not looking the other way when things get complicated," he stated.
The leaked audio
The resignation comes just 24 hours after ERC opened an informational proceeding against Puigtió for the content of a conversation he had with a young man linked to Vox and responsible for an Instagram account that disseminates disinformation about the city. In the recording, Puigtió said he wanted to "kick out" the entire party leadership in Girona to take control and be able to use its electoral resources. He also criticized his rival in the primaries, Adam Manyé, and promised to send compromising information about him to his interlocutor in exchange for not disseminating data against him, while also expressing the desire to remove the current councilors from the consistory.
The party's ethics commission met on Tuesday afternoon to open the proceedings and "determine, where applicable, the corresponding responsibilities". Junqueras had endorsed Puigtió's candidacy in the primaries. In a letter sent to the membership, the until then republican candidate admitted that the disseminated conversation included "expressions and proposals that are not adequate", although he did not directly respond to the content of the statements and defended that the audio was a montage with edited fragments of informal conversations from different days.
After the audio was made public, Karim Sabni El Garraf, until then secretary of image and communication and citizenship of ERC in Girona, announced that he was stepping aside "for coherence", defending that "anti-fascism, republican values, and the left do not admit ambiguities".
Puigtió had been chosen as a mayoral candidate almost a year ago in very tense primaries against Manyé, who challenged the process after losing by a single vote. The party's guarantees commission ended up endorsing the result. Once ratified, Puigtió did not have the support of the Girona executive, which favored Manyé, and he pushed for the entry of new members and the procedures for an internal no-confidence vote with the aim of renewing it. In February, the then-current executive resigned en bloc, denouncing "lack of democratic guarantees" and practices "contrary to the party's values" – the episode that, months later, has ended up leading to this Thursday's resignation.
According to consulted sources, the current executive, now aligned with Puigtió, will continue. With regard to the primaries that the party will have to hold, it is still unknown whether the current leadership will want to present a candidate close to the until now mayoral candidate – Puigtió had not yet made public the names that would accompany him in his candidacy – or if, on the contrary, someone close to Manyé and the previous executive will present themselves.
Marc Puigtió renounced being the candidate for mayor of Sant Julià de Ramis in 2024 and, since then, began preparing his candidacy for the mayoralty of Girona. During the last few months, he has met with social and economic agents in the city and has gone door-to-door with residents from the different neighborhoods of Girona. Puigtió has even campaigned against the current municipal government, of which ERC is a part.