Revolt in Figueres: Aliança Catalana members demand the reinstatement of the candidate fired for going out with a minor

BarcelonaOn June 28, Aliança Catalana fired its candidate in Figueres because he was maintaining a romantic relationship with a former 16-year-old student of his whom he had met while giving a talk on sports management. Arnau Liesa, born in 1995 and 30 years old, was not just another head of the list. He was one of the first mayoral candidates the party announced and he had the unconditional support of the leadership, as evidenced by the fact that he was the organization secretary for the Alt Empordà region. He was a rising star and was aiming to also be in a leading position on the Girona list for Parliament.

The Figueres membership did not doubt at any point that he should be the candidate, even though people who had run for other parties had also proposed themselves to head the list. The revelation of his relationship with this minor and his expulsion from the party has not changed the opinion of many of the Figueres affiliates. The local core of the party is demanding his reinstatement. As learned by ARA, they have conveyed this to the leadership, from whom they have requested a meeting in which they will demand that Liesa return as the candidate. The unrest is such that in mid-August the militants were about to send a letter to the leadership requesting Liesa's reinstatement, but at the last moment they backed down for fear that disciplinary measures would be taken against them.

The decision, however, depends on the leadership, which is the one that chooses the candidates in cities with more than 30,000 inhabitants, and the militants in Figueres are convinced that the party's top brass will not yield. In fact, when the Aliança government committee met via videoconference with Liesa on that same June 28, the party had already released a statement announcing his dismissal, without waiting for him to be able to explain himself. The fear that the news would be leaked to a media outlet, as they had heard would happen, caused the leadership to act with haste to control the fire. Liesa accepted his dismissal and since then has remained in a discreet background, separated from the party, without making statements, nor has he held any formal meeting with the Figueres affiliates. "We are in the process of restructuring and consolidating the party in Figueres," they limit themselves to saying from the leadership.

"The members want his reinstatement, we still think he is our candidate, even if he is no longer one for the leadership," says a member of the party in the capital of the Alt Empordà with whom ARA has contacted. Be that as it may, they are aware that the leadership will not comply with their request: "It is very difficult, when the leadership makes a decision it is immovable." Despite admitting the upheaval that knowing that Liesa had a relationship with a minor caused, the members of the local core minimize it: "He is an old-fashioned boy, a traditionalist, and when he can he will make a formal marriage proposal and will marry her, she is the love of his life, as he defended. And when he saw that he was falling in love, he left the institute where he was holding those sessions to be able to court her, he cannot be branded a pedophile as some pundits with very bad faith have done," they denounce, visibly angry.

In search of a substitute

For this reason, they demand that he be the candidate. "The supporters do not care about his private life, and Arnau is the best candidate we can have, with a level head, politically prepared, and with great communicative capacity to confront the mayor, Jordi Masquef." "With Arnau, we could have won," some of the members go so far as to say. The leadership, however, already started working in July to search for a substitute indirectly through regional and local leaders. The response from all the militants who have been polled has been negative for the moment, citing personal or professional reasons, and with the firm conviction that Liesa remains the best possible head of the list. Some, however, like Joan Llobet, who until recently was Liesa's right-hand man, could step forward if the leadership, as expected, digs in. "The project is more important than names, and the list is not at risk," the members make clear, not hiding the fact that Figueres will be one of the bastions of Aliança. "If we were to present a fig tree, the city's symbol, we would still get two or three councilors anyway," they conclude.