The mayors look for rivals

Barcelona / Tarragona / Lleida / GironaJust over a year remains until the next municipal elections, and in most municipalities, parties are already pulling strings to nominate their candidates and configure their lists. In the four Catalan capitals, a good portion of the candidates have already announced if they will run again, and new names entering the municipal dispute have also been revealed, but there are still unresolved unknowns.

New contenders for Collboni

The last terms have shown that the electoral race in Barcelona is ultimately decided in the pacts of the last 100 meters, from election day to the investiture of the new mayor. However, most parties have already begun to take positions and have their candidates defined.

The mayor, Jaume Collboni, will run for re-election for the PSC with the aim of retaining his position, but this time with the intention of coming first in the polls. He will face very different rivals than in 2023. Gerardo Pisarello will take Ada Colau's place at the head of Comuns, and Elisenda Alamany will take Ernest Maragall's at Esquerra.

It is still an unknown, however, who will take over from Xavier Trias at the head of Junts. The party's objective is to have a candidate by the summer, and right now everything points to a duel between Josep Rius and Jordi Martí Galbis, although the possibility of an external signing that boosts electoral prospects, which are far from the victory of four years ago, is still being closely watched.

In the PP, despite being a highly debated figure internally, the candidate will be Daniel Sirera, who maintains the endorsement of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. Vox has not yet chosen a standard-bearer, but everything suggests that faces will change at the City Council. Nor does the CUP – which has been out of the council for two terms – have a defined candidate. Like Aliança, which is still looking for a standard-bearer, but all polls already indicate that it will be one of the big novelties in the City Council of the Catalan capital.

Viñuales repeats and Junts maintains the struggle

Unlike Barcelona, in the Tarragona capital there are still many candidates to be decided. The current mayor, the socialist Rubén Viñuales, who in 2023 obtained 9 councilors out of 27, will run again and the party is optimistic about his result: "Tarragona is a quiet place and the Generalitat has helped us a lot", explain party sources, referring to the committed investment of the Government. The republicans also have their candidate clear: Xavier Puig. The current councilor of the Tarragona City Council won the primary elections that the party organized last October and it is he who is already preparing the electoral strategy. In 2023 his formation obtained 6 councilors. Who also has the candidate more than decided is the Popular Party. In the last elections they were the third force, with four councilors, and they have no doubt that Maria Mercè Martorell will repeat as mayoral candidate.

In Girona, the three parties that form the municipal government already have a candidate. Two weeks ago advocates for organizing primary elections. According to forecasts, the party will announce its decision in the coming weeks. Vox, which also obtained three councilors, wants to maintain its policy of not announcing the candidate until the elections are called, according to party sources. En Comú Podem, which obtained two councilors, has also not yet decided on its candidate. The current representative of the party in the City Council, Jordi Collado, feels "eager to continue", but recalls that the decision rests with the assemblies. The CUP, which could not enter the City Council, is also awaiting its internal processes to elect a candidate. Finally, Aliança Catalana, which will run for the first time in Tarragona, already has a candidate, but has not yet made it public.

Larrosa reveals the unknown

Mayor Fèlix Larrosa (PSC), in the minority at the Lleida City Council (9 out of 27 councilors), put himself forward to repeat as a candidate a few days ago. In an Instagram live, he responded thus when his followers asked him if he would run for re-election: "One is mayor because they receive the trust of the citizens, I will try to move forward with the project I started two and a half years ago, we have many open folders and I would like to close them".

Despite having the support of Junts during the first two years of the legislature, Larrosa now governs without allies. Facing him is a very fragmented opposition (PP, ERC, and Junts each have 5 councilors) which will undoubtedly seek to break the deadlock in the next elections. Both the popular Xavier Palau and the republican Jordina Freixanet have publicly declared their candidacy for 2027, while the Junts member Violant Cervera will do so soon.

Salellas returns facing the question mark of Paneque

In Girona, the three parties forming the municipal government already have candidates. Two weeks ago Mayor Lluc Salellas announced that he would once again lead the list for Guanyem, the left-wing party that integrates the CUP. The deputy mayor, Gemma Geis, for her part, will also repeat as head of the Junts list, while for Esquerra, the candidate will be Marc Puigtió, former mayor of Sant Julià de Ramis, chosen after a fratricidal process that has highlighted the party's divisions.

In the opposition, the big question is whether councilor Sílvia Paneque will leave Salvador Illa's Government to try to repeat the socialist victory of 2023. If she ultimately does not run, Marc Lamuà or Pere Parramon have options. It remains to be seen what role Catalan Alliance will play, which aims to enter the City Council and dynamite the investiture arithmetic, but at the moment no prominent mayoral candidate is being mentioned. Vox and the Popular Party, with one councilor each, have also not confirmed who will lead their lists.