More than fifty proxies, the majority of the PSC and BComú, supervised the vote count in Barcelona on Friday. They played more than one for each of the twenty tables, when on previous occasions the parties sent only two or three people. This has been the last chapter of an intense post-electoral week in which the PSC and BComú have pressured offices, social networks and appearances to create an alternative government to that of Xavier Trias, a possibility that is moving away by forced marches after the ERC decision to prioritize a Catalan front.
The Republicans have left the negotiation with the mayor of Junts in the hands of Ernest Maragall – who with his five councilors became a priority objective for socialists and commoners on the same election night to weave an alternative to Xavier Trias –. However, the day after the elections, with the electoral results in hand and after Pedro Sánchez's unexpected announcement to advance the general elections to July 23, Oriol Junqueras already made it clear that there was "neither interest nor will" to offer the mayor of Barcelona to the PSC and two days later he reiterated that ERC will prioritize agreements with independentistas in town halls and councils.
Yesterday, Pere Aragonès reiterated that he trusts Maragall to lead the negotiations in Barcelona, "the decision he adopts will be the best for the city and for the country," he said in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio. "We have a model that is very far from what Collboni defends, we are at the antipodes," said Aragonés, and although he also acknowledged having "notable differences" with Xavier Trias' project, he highlighted the coincidences.
Maragall and his team must now define what type of agreement they reach with Junts and what calendar. Jaume Collboni's first option, that of configuring a three-party government with BComú and ERC, is thus ruled out. The pressure on the social networks of commoners and socialists, first in favor of that progressive government in which ERC was integrated, has led to a campaign in which the two parties that until now governed Barcelona regret Maragall's support for the Junts government .
The intense post-election week culminated on Friday in Barcelona with the claimed recount of votes that finally brought no surprises and confirmed results. The PSC incorporated 188 votes, which widens the difference with the commons –342 votes separates them– and thus strengthens its ten councilors (one more than those of BComú). In reality, the one who has benefited the most from the recount has been Junts, which adds 244 more votes while the commons have lost thirteen ballots in the review of results. Yesterday, BComú was studying requesting clarification from the Electoral Board to check again if its amendments to the material errors detected in the Sunday night count had been correctly collected.
In any case, the party pointed out that it was a review, not to challenge the count, which would mean postponing the constitution of the City Council, which the calendar marks for Saturday June 17, until the first weekend of July, a few days of the beginning of the campaign for the general elections.
Thus, except for a last-minute surprise, everything indicates that Trias will be invested with the eleven votes of his party and that he would start with a minority municipal government to which ERC could later join, with which they would add 16 of the 41 plenary councilors or with the PSC, with which he could govern with an absolute majority of 21 councillors. In fact, Trias has not ruled out any of the options. Nor have PSC and BComú thrown in the towel to forge, once again, an alternative majority to the winner of the elections.
