Daniel Sirera, councilor elected to the Barcelona City Council by the PP, holds the key to governance in the city. His four councilors can give the mayorship to the socialist Jaume Collboni and leave the winner of the elections, Xavier Trias, in opposition. His phone smokes due to the enormous socialist pressure to prevent Barcelona from having a pro-independence mayor. And Sirera asks them why they are scandalized if the PSC governs with the independentistas in the Barcelona Provincial Council since 2019.
It is curious that the independence issue now reappears when it has barely appeared in the electoral campaign. This time, the political debate has focused on a kind of referendum on the continuity of the mayor Ada Colau. In this context, Sirera promised that he would prevent the commons from continuing in government and, therefore, he rejects the operation proposed by the Socialists to lend his councilors to the sum of the PSC (ten) and BComú (nine) so that Collboni may be mayor . The popular ones would only study this option if the socialist candidate commits, before a notary if necessary, that he will have the votes of BComú for free and will not incorporate the commoners in the government. The problem is that the PSC knows that this requirement is unaffordable for its BComú partners. In reality, the PP asks for the impossible.
Therefore, Daniel Sirera can vote for himself and allow the most voted list (Trias) access to mayor, or accept the operation proposed by the PSC if they accept their difficult conditions. However, the PP has made calculations and knows that if it now participates in the socialist proposal, this legislature will lose its decisive role because the socio-common government will not give it the ability to influence. On the other hand, if the popular decide not to support Trias or Collboni, they will save a valuable silver bullet that will condition the entire mandate.
I explain. Trias and Ernest Maragall (ERC) only have 16 councillors, five less than the absolute majority and three less than the union of PSC (10) and BComú (9). If Trias becomes mayor as the list with the most votes, he will govern under the threat of a blockade by socialists and commoners. For this reason, the role of the PP would have a high price because it could facilitate the governance of Trias before the Collboni-Colau bloc and, at the same time, it would become a watchdog against the independence drifts of Junts and its preferred ERC partners. If this last circumstance occurred, the PP could use its silver bullet and promote a motion of no confidence together with PSC and BComú to unseat Trias. On the other hand, if the PP now facilitates the mayoralty to the Socialists, they would lose the wild card of the motion of no confidence because their four councilors added to the 16 of Junts and ERC do not reach the 21 majority that would allow the mayor to be thrown out. This role of referee or sheriff, depending on how you look at it, will only be held by Sirera if the letter of support for third parties is now saved. And after all that has been said, we will see what the two Vox councilors will do, who can alter the alliances.
