Together chooses mayoral candidate from four candidates from Sarrià-Sant Gervasi

BarcelonaJunts' primaries in Barcelona are at a crucial point to choose the candidate for mayor from among the four mayoral candidates, all of whom live in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district, a key area for Carles Puigdemont's party in the municipal elections. The choice is between the current municipal leader, Jordi Martí; the first secretary of the board and deputy, Glòria Freixa; the deputy in Congress Pilar Calvo, or the lawyer and former deputy Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas – the only one who lives in Sarrià; the others live in Putxet, although Calvo is a member of the Eixample district, where she also used to live. The race has the decisive debate this Friday afternoon before the militants can vote in a process that will end with the publication of the results on Sunday evening.

L'Eixample and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi are the groupings with the most weight among affiliates, with 250 and 220 militants respectively out of the 935 that Junts has in the Catalan capital, according to informed sources consulted by ARA. But they are not only important from within, but also electorally: Xavier Trias would not have been able to win the 2023 elections – nor those of 2011 – without the massive support in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi (40% of the votes in the district and where he obtained one in five of the total of his votes in the city) and the good results in Les Corts (31.2%), L'Eixample (28.3%) and Gràcia (26.5%), above the average percentage of votes in the city (22.4%).

They are places where CiU has traditionally had more strength and where the results are better than in the rest of the districts, even when the elections go badly, as in the municipal elections of 2019. The big challenge is how to keep the order votes above Avinguda Diagonal – and try not to lose those obtained below – even though these primaries also have a national profile reading that cannot be overlooked.

Battle

Although Calvo's attempt to incorporate Freixa into her candidacy has so far failed, the deputy in Madrid has garnered significant support from individuals close to former president Carles Puigdemont. For example, his lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, who went so far as to say that now there is ""finally, someone with a project and a team" and has participated in an event with the aspirant. "It seems they want to boost Pilar Calvo, we'll see how the membership reacts," other sources assure, lamenting the role of people close to the leadership. "These moves are not liked," the sources emphasize.

has planted yourself in front of the leadership to assert yourselfIdeologically, there are not many nuances, but there are in the emphasis. Martí represents Trias's legacy, he was his right-hand man and campaign manager, he has the explicit support of the former mayor and claims the convergent spirit; but he also has stood up to the leadership to assert himself. Freixa is also pragmatic, but with a desire to bring "fresh air" and with a feminist approach – she has also received support from the vice-president of Barça, Elena Fort. On the other hand, Cuevillas has presented himself as a candidate from the grassroots, capable of connecting with diverse social profiles, and his rapport with former president Puigdemont is well known, although he is a free spirit. And Calvo has presented a candidacy that boasts "transversality", but has received warmth from part of the party's top brass.

It was not anecdotal that Cuevillas warned in an interview with ARA that the primaries seem like "a pre-congress for the future governance of the party" among sectors and warned that it would be "a disservice to the party and the president" if they became "a plebiscite on Puigdemont".