Junts forms an alliance in Manresa with the former leader of the National Front

BarcelonaJust over a month. That's how long it took Junts and Avanç Nacionalista to reach an agreement to run in coalition in Manresa's municipal elections. The pact was made public this Friday and officially signed at noon at the Celler del Bages, with the presence of the two leaders of the parties: Junts member Ramon Bacardit and far-right councilor Sergi Perramon. This is the first municipal coalition between Carles Puigdemont's party and a force openly opposed to immigration. Both sides were keen to reach an agreement as soon as possible to form an alternative to the ERC government a year before the elections. Now it remains to be seen whether representatives of the former PDECat will also join, with whom they are also in talks, even though they are part of the current municipal coalition government with ERC and the PSC. Bacardit is expected to be the mayoral candidate on the unified list, with Perramon as number two, in a coalition that will operate under the Junts umbrella, bearing in mind that for Carles Puigdemont's party this was a red line and that Avanç Nacionalista is a new local training, which should collect signatures to be able to put up a fight.

The programmatic agreement has facilitated the understanding. Both parties advocate for improving security and monitoring immigration, placing special emphasis on squatting and illegal registrations. Faced with the rise of the far right, Bacardit has hardened his rhetoric and has established himself as one of the representatives of the hardline wing of Junts, a fact that has led the pro-independence left to label him a racist. In fact, he was the promoter of the concentration which was done in Manresa in October 2023 after a mass fight between minors of foreign origin.

The agreement comes after Perramon, a former councilor for the National Front of Catalonia (FNC), a party he left midway through his term, rejected a tempting offer from Aliança Catalana. as the ARA advancedSilvia Orriols' party proposed that he be their mayoral candidate in the capital of Bages, and had he accepted, he would also have been their candidate for Barcelona in the next Catalan elections. Aliança Catalana had already tried to recruit him as their candidate for Barcelona in the last parliamentary elections, but at that time the councilor He rejected the offer.so that he wanted to focus on municipal politics, as an independent councilor.

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The capital of Bages is a tempting stronghold for this political group. In the last parliamentary elections, Manresa was the city with more than 50,000 inhabitants where Aliança obtained the most support, with 9.4% of the vote (combined with Vox's votes, the far right's support rose to 16%). In the municipal elections, the Front won two council seats and Vox one, together garnering 12.6% of the vote.

The joint list between Junts and Avanç Nacionalista complicates matters for Aliança, which has already made it clear that He won't make lists willy-nilly. and that it will only do so where it has a chance of success. The Front, for its part, maintains its intention to run in the capital of Bages. Jordi Casacuberta, the party's general secretary, asserts that they have "the electoral rights, the membership, and the capacity" to present a candidacy. In fact, the Front has renewed its regional executive committee. Bages and Berguedà, with former Aliança militants, with the aim of them leading the future candidacy.