Tatxo Benet rejects Junts' offer to be the candidate for Barcelona

BarcelonaThe second offer that Junts made to businessman Tatxo Benet to be the candidate for mayor of Barcelona has already received a negative response. Benet has informed the Junts members that he dismisses this option, as advanced by Nació and confirmed by ARA. The reason that has driven the president of the employers' association FemCat is strictly "familiar", as he has confirmed to this newspaper. Carles Puigdemont's leadership sounded him out for the candidacy that has the task of succeeding Xavier Trias as the frontrunner. Benet joins the list of people who have rejected the offer, including former minister Quim Forn and former president Artur Mas.

In the race to be the candidate, there is the current municipal leader, Jordi Martí Galbis, and the national spokesperson and also Barcelona councillor, Josep Rius, although recently the former deputy Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, who had been in charge of Carles Puigdemont's defense in the past, has joined again. While the dispute between the two continues, the leadership has tried to find a third way to project a consensus candidate to the membership and achieve good results in the city.

Another name that had also been mentioned was that of former Health Minister Josep Maria Argimon, although he also stopped being considered. Junts' Secretary General, Jordi Turull, has made it publicly clear that he will present a mayoral candidate proposal to the party's membership this summer, awaiting its approval. The context is not easy, but the leadership is working to avoid the scenario of primaries to prevent divisions, such as the one that could occur if a choice had to be made between Martí and Rius. Junts has opted throughout Catalonia for this path, which is facilitated by the latest reform of the regulations, allowing primaries not to be called in large cities. If the dispute were to continue, the membership could try to force them.