The PP fires the rebel leader in Figueres

BarcelonaThe internal PP dispute in Figueres has all the ingredients of a full-blown conflict: a battle with the leadership after returning to the council, a corruption complaint filed with the courts that was dismissed, and, recently, a severe sanction against the rebel leader and only councilor, the previously Popular Party member Àngela Domènech. According to ARA, the party's state guarantees committee has suspended her from membership for five and a half years and barred her from holding office within the party or representing it for the same period. In a resolution dated April 8, the body at the headquarters on Génova Street in Madrid opted to "confirm in all its terms the resolution of the regional committee on rights and guarantees of Catalonia," which issued this same sanction on March 3, but which Domènech appealed.

With Génova's decision, she has been completely struck down. Domènech assures this newspaper that she learned of the result through the media and received the notification on Friday at noon. She also denounces that she has suffered an "excessively criminal lack of defense" because she believes the accusations against her are unproven and adds that she "will file an appeal and, depending on its content, a complaint for possible malfeasance against those responsible" because she still does not see "the war" as completely lost. It remains to be seen whether she will ultimately carry out the judicial threat. The councilor had rebelled against the Girona provincial leadership of the PP, led by Veray, denouncing an alleged case of "corruption" following the May 2023 municipal elections, in which she was elected councilor, and had even unsuccessfully appealed to the courts. The courts rejected the complaint against Veray's leadership because there was "no evidence of a crime."

With the internal complaint against her, the councilor submitted some sixty documents for the appeal to the state PP to overturn, in her opinion, "each and every one of the claims" of the complainants. She had placed her trust in Génova to help the accusations of "disloyalty" and "disobedience" decline, but the guarantees committee considers them proven. In fact, it has imposed a "very serious" sanction, according to the party's disciplinary regulations.

It all began in the 2023 municipal elections, when Domènech became a Popular Party councilor in the second-most populous city in the Girona district. She denounced, through the local party board, that she had not received the money she considered due for the election campaign; she requested the statement of accounts and, following the accusations, was suspended. The suspicion she raised was that there had been an irregular diversion of funds, in her opinion, to the Girona city campaign. Thus, she spoke of corruption and was subsequently investigated and dismissed as provincial deputy secretary of communications, the position she held.

Tangled Journey

In October 2023, she filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office for unfair administration, which was dismissed due to lack of evidence. From the outset, the councilor called for the dismissal of the Veray leadership, a move she has maintained. In November 2023, the Popular Party (PP) appointed a city management committee, and Domènech was formally removed and provisionally suspended from membership—the date from which the sanction, which expires in 2029, is calculated. In January 2024, the Figueres plenary session, with the vote of Juntos, rejected the request, with a key argument being that the party's decision was not final. However, with this April's resolution, there is no turning back, and she could become unaffiliated.

Domènech's war implicated his local city council, consisting of fifteen members, who supported him and with whom he has organized events in recent years to flex his muscles. It remains to be seen whether they will abandon the party's ship. In fact, whenever ARA has consulted her, she has insisted on the accusation of corruption: according to her, it is "very strange" that, after two years, they have not received the statement of accounts they requested in June 2023. She has also continued to wonder "why they haven't been shown."

When ARA has inquired, the Girona PP leadership has always expressed confidence in a resolution that would close this case. For a long time, they have only had seven councilors in the district, not eight, due to a headache they see as "unfounded" because it stems from a dispute over the priority of election expenses. In these two turbulent years, Domènech, the daughter of a founder of Convergència and a savior of a mayor of Sant Adrià del Besòs during the Franco era, has challenged the historic Veray by clinging to its acronym, but has ended up losing the battle.