Barcelona faces the final sprint until the May elections

BarcelonaBarcelona is preparing for the final sprint before the municipal elections in May. With all the runners in their positions once the uncertainties regarding the heads of the lists for Junts per Barcelona and Barcelona en Comú have been resolved, and the leap of Aliança Catalana into the capital confirmed, everything is ready for the start of the final political term before the elections. A short term—less than nine months—but with burning issues such as housing, the increase in homelessness, or the recent shootings in the city that will surely condition the plenary session that emerges from the polling station.

According to polls such as the latest municipal barometer, the mayor, Jaume Collboni, begins this final stretch of the mandate as the favorite for re-election. However, what the mayor has ahead of him is not exactly the 100-meter dash but rather an obstacle course. Not only because he faces it with the most minority government in history with only ten councilors, but also because in this final sprint, where the opposition traditionally hardens, he has some important folders to resolve.

To face the challenge of re-election, Collboni has long been waving the flag of the "right to stay in the city." A slogan with which he wants to encompass two of the priorities he set himself after the midpoint of the mandate: housing and social services. In the former, consolidated throughout the mandate as the main problem for Barcelona residents, the mayor has major medium-term objectives such as the elimination of tourist apartments by the end of 2028 or achieving a construction rate of one thousand public housing units per year.

Before the elections, however, it seems difficult to predict results. Once the reform of the 30% protected housing reserve—one of Collboni's great promises when he took office—was ruled out, the municipal government has boasted about a containment of rental prices which, mind you, has been accompanied by a reduction in supply. On the table, there are indeed promises of new aid that have yet to be specified and open paths to fight against speculative purchasing that will have to be seen if they land before the month of May. An area in which one folder is indeed burning, that of the negotiation—with the mediation of the Ombudsman of Barcelona—with the fund New Amsterdam Developers to prevent the Papallona block and the Sant Agustí block from becoming co-living spaces.

Key negotiations

The PSC executive has other important negotiations on the table. Aside from some budgets that, unless a miracle occurs, will have to be extended—a fact that would confirm a first term in which the City Council has not approved any budget through the ordinary procedure—, Collboni has two relevant conversations underway for the city. The first, which he is having with the residents of Sagrada Família regarding the resolution of a conflict that has been entrenched for years, such as the one concerning the staircase, and on which there should be news soon. The second, still in its early stages, is with the Port regarding the limitation of cruise ships in transit, which the mayor announced he wanted to reduce to zero.

The municipal government also has to negotiate on internal matters, as it has been dragging out a conflict for months with a large part of the City Council's social services professionals over the negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement. Likewise, there is an ongoing standoff by the libraries, which have announced a new day of strike action on Tuesday due to the lack of response, they claim, from the city council to their demands to improve the service's working conditions.

As in the case of housing, regarding the major works that have half the city up in the air, many are long-term projects—such as line 8, La Sagrera, Meridiana, or the covering of the Ronda de Dalt—that will not see the light of day in this term, even though the inconveniences they generate are already present. To compensate for this, the mayor will try to showcase some trump cards, such as the completion of the works on La Rambla, which are already entering their final stretch. In contrast, other works that were supposed to be important this term, such as the tram connection to Francesc Macià or the recovery of interior courtyards—the other great unfulfilled promise by Collboni—have been left for the next term.

Unexpected problems

Ahead, the municipal government also faces deep-rooted problems in the city such as the alarming number of homeless people that does not stop growing or the saturation of emergency accommodation. As always, however, the most difficult obstacles are the unexpected ones that may arise, such as the recent crisis caused by the sinkhole that the Line 9 works caused at the beginning of summer in the Sant Gervasi - la Bonanova neighborhood and which will mean that some of the affected residents will not be able to return home until the beginning of 2027. Also the rise in shootings in recent months in the Catalan capital, which have brought back a perception of insecurity that had been successfully lowered in the first part of the term.

All this without losing sight of a debate that, fueled for some time by the extreme right –which with Vox and Aliança Catalana threatens to have significant weight in the next chamber of the Catalan capital–, has also begun to emerge in municipal barometers: immigration. The crisis in Ceuta these days will only feed a question that will surely appear in the pre-campaign for the May elections in Barcelona.

The opposition seeks to establish itself as an alternative

With this entire scenario ahead, the opposition will try to make space for itself to reach the election campaign with options to snatch the mayoralty from the PSC. Always according to the latest barometer, the one who begins this race with the best disposition is the ERC of Elisenda Alamany and its commitment to recovering the identity of Barcelona. This will be one of the keys to this end of the term, the change that the relationship between socialists and republicans may undergo, who have been Collboni's main partner for a good part of the mandate.

Barcelona en Comú and Junts, on the other hand, will try to turn around the dynamics predicted by the polls, which have placed them in decline for some time. They will try, of course, with their list leaders already defined. Gerardo Pisarello and Jordi Martí Galbis will try to take advantage of these months to reinforce their image as an alternative to the mayor, the former emphasizing debates such as the importance of an affordable life in the city and the latter on security and order. Two issues on which PP candidate Daniel Sirera will also focus, who will continue with his strategy of not missing any opportunity to point out the mayor for the things he believes are not working in the city.