New resignation at Aliança Catalana: the candidate for Vilanova i la Geltrú quits

Barcelona“I believe in Vilanova i la Geltrú. I believe in its people. And I believe that the best of Vilanova i la Geltrú is yet to be written,” stated Xavier Cusiné during his presentation as the mayoral candidate for Aliança Catalana on June 20th. He will not write it with Sílvia Orriols' party. As learned by ARA, Cusiné has decided to resign from the candidacy citing "personal reasons," although discrepancies with the party's organization secretary, Oriol Gès, could be behind his departure. "They couldn't even stand each other, and this has been going on for a while," claim sources from the organization.

Cusiné communicated his departure on Thursday evening to the members in an extraordinary meeting of the Garraf regional executive, of which he was also the president, a position he would, for the moment, continue to hold. Thus, he has deleted his account on X, @xaviercusine_ac, which he created following his election as head of the list. Party sources, when asked by ARA, have explained that they are waiting for the until-now mayoral candidate to issue a statement.

This businessman from the meat sector was not just another leader, but the party's strongman at the regional level. Cusiné occupied the number 16 spot on the Aliança Catalana list for Barcelona in the last elections and, therefore, joined as a militant long before the entry of Orriols' party into Parliament caused the number of members to skyrocket. His resignation has taken the members by surprise, who have not hidden their disappointment at the decision, according to sources present at the meeting. In fact, just a week ago, Cusiné was still in charge of carrying the Aliança Catalana wreath at the floral offering for the Diada in Vilanova i la Geltrú amidst loud booing from a large part of the attendees. His presence at the event, therefore, did not suggest that his farewell would be so imminent.

Aragonès' trusted man

Cusiné was in charge of the Aliança Catalana training schools and coordinated the last meeting, which took place on July 17 in Vidreres, which aimed to provide tools to the future municipal representatives who were elected. The event was organized by the Secretariat of Training, Studies and Programs, led by Jordi Aragonès, and Cusiné acted as coordinator of the different commissions that make up this area of the party's structure.

Cusiné was one of the trusted men of Aragonès, mayoral candidate in Barcelona, who was the one who decided to appoint him as coordinator. The internal war, now buried, between Aragonès and the Organization Secretary Oriol Gès, has surfaced again with the disputes between the party's organization secretary and one of Aragonès's protégés, who has ended up abandoning the ship.

He is the second mayoral candidate dismissed in less than three months after the one from Figueres, Arnau Liesa, wasremoveddue to his relationship with a minor. On June 28, Aliança Catalana fired its candidate in the capital of the Alt Empordà because he was maintaining a romantic relationship with a former sixteen-year-old student of his whom he met while giving a talk on sports management. The revelation of his relationship with this minor and his expulsion from the party has not changed the opinion of many of the Figueres members, who have demanded, without success, his reinstatement, as reported by ARA. As in Figueres, Aliança Catalana will have to find a new candidate in Vilanova i la Geltrú.