Little atmosphere and until yesterday few votes. The renewal process of the chambers of commerce culminates today with the exercise of electronic voting in person after having been able to do it remotely since last Friday. In the Barcelona Chamber, where attention is focused, the result is uncertain between the two candidates in the running: Eines de País-Un Pas Més, headed by the current president Mònica Roca and Toni Fitó, and Va d'Empresa, led by Josep Santacreu.
The provisional participation data provided yesterday by the Department of Business reflects that in Barcelona 12,666 voters had voted until yesterday, 2.58% of the census, made up of 491,052 businessmen and self-employed people. In Terrassa, 1,489 voters have voted, 3.63% of the census; and in Manresa, 357, 2.3% of the electorate. In the rest of the chambers there is no vote because they had a single candidate.
Unlike what happened in 2019, the campaign has been low-profile, beyond some specific controversies, such as Eines de País' criticism of Pimec, which they accuse of wanting to take over the Chamber. The employers' association chaired by Antoni Cañete categorically denies this.
Eines de País, which has the support of former president Carles Puigdemont, the Consell de la República and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), aspires to revalidate the absolute majority it achieved four years ago, although its leaders remain cautious. Above all, because the movements of Santacreu's team are a complete unknown, given the discretion with which they have faced the campaign. By means of suffrage, 52 of the 60 members of the plenary session are elected, who vote divided into 14 activity groups. Eines de País has candidates for 51 of them. Va d'Empresa presents 45 although it assures that it has the support of at least five others who are independent. This could be the case of Banc Sabadell, which has not been included in any list.
To complete the plenary session, six members appointed directly by the employers' organizations Foment del Treball and Pimec will enter. On this occasion they have agreed on a joint list. On behalf of Foment, Anna Cornadó (Copisa), Ignacio Marull (PWC)) and Eloi Planes (Fluidra) would enter. For its part, Pimec has chosen Emma Gumbert (founder of Emma Gumbert), Martina Font (Font Packaging Group) and Miquel Martí (Moventia). There are two vacant positions from the start because the competition to cover the two seats that are occupied in exchange for a financial contribution has been left empty.
