In the first count of damage to Junts after the conviction of Laura Borràs, the balance on the inside flank is more than expected. In a space where polyphony was common until recently, there has been almost no public noise aside from the opinions of the president of the guarantee commission, Magda Oranich, and the counterattack of some county and local executives of the party with similar leaders in Borràs who have asked for the head of the lawyer.
What happens beyond the perimeter of Junts is another story. The rest of the political formations have used the sentence as an element of attrition when there are two months left until the municipal elections in May, and this causes fear in some cadres of the party, especially because of the effect it may have on the big ones cities and important places such as Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona.
"Even if you don't move, reality does move around you", points out a leader of the pragmatic sector party who believes that Borràs' resignation should have been forced so that the sentence was known, for do not give in to the attacks they are receiving now. "We would have killed the subject in 24 hours", he replies. But this scenario was ruled out for fear that the situation would cause disagreements and have consequences in the electoral campaign and the results of May 28.
This leader warns that now the rest "will use this issue to wear down" Junts and predicts that "there will be more and more pressure". However, he points out that in small municipalities they are likely to pay no price, although they may lose votes in big cities. "It is not a personal issue. It's a political issue and what goes right or wrong in the party... it's clear that the president affects us", he concludes.
Another representative from this same area of the party now regrets not having acted earlier. "We should have gotten rid of Borràs much earlier and we should not have accepted David Torrents and his people, who were left out of the executive in the congressional votes," he says. "She lives in a parallel reality and will drag us all through the rocks", justifies this member of the management, who believes that the general secretary's formula, "contemporize and make balances so that there is no noise and instability before the municipal elections ”, also carries risks. "If this wave is not measured well, which can affect the party, it can swallow us up", he believes. But, for now, he resigns himself: "Times must be measured and now the only thing we can do is grit our teeth and hold on."
"After May 28, something will have to be done. If nothing happens, there is a risk that the general secretary will not like the Borràs sector and neither his own", adds this leader, who sees the municipal elections in May as a crucial appointment to print one course or another within the party . His recipe, if there is a good result, is to "immediately decide on a candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat who is in tune with that of Madrid". However, in Junts this matter will not be addressed until the horizon of Carles Puigdemont is clarified, pending the resolutions of the European justice on his immunity.
This opinion is shared by other cadres of the party, but the maxim imposed by the management is that there must be "internal peace" so that the training arrives cohesively at the municipal offices, and the most possible sector has complied with the directive. After the electoral dispute, the situation may change, although some see it as "difficult" to undo the exchange after the general secretary, Jordi Turull, has assured that it is a case of lawfare, something that Oranich has questioned and that they privately admit many more members of the formation. The faces, gestures and silence of some of those who accompanied Borràs during his appearance at the doors of Parliament on the day of the sentence say it all. "It is even offensive that he puts his cause in the same bag as those of the 1-O and the process", concludes another source.
On June 3, after the elections, the national council, the party's highest decision-making body between congresses, is scheduled to meet. If the results are good, it is possible that there will be some movement to demand a step back from the president. "I think that if we win or play a good role, voices will be raised and there will be courage that day", points out a member of this body. "Before everyone wanted events with Borràs, now no one wants it in their town", says this councillor, local leader of Junts, to illustrate the situation of the party's president.
"The candidates want peace and I want to think that there will be movements after the municipal elections. She will be losing weight and maybe with a push she will go", he continues. In any case, he believes that "all this needs its time" and predicts that "with a bit of luck or with a push it will fall under its own weight". Likewise, he points out that he is "embarrassed by others who say that some irregularities that began in 2013 are lawfare".
However, there is also a candidate who, without identifying with what the president of Junts represents, wants her to attend her events, even though the situation is "uncomfortable and anomalous". "I feel more identified with Xavier Trias and I come from Convergència, but Borràs continues to have traction among some pro-independence sectors", he explains. "I wish we didn't have these storms", he sighs.
