The defeat of Ada Colau in Barcelona, third force behind Xavier Trias and Jaume Collboni, has had its aftershocks in all the candidacies that have been presented under the umbrella of En Comú throughout Catalonia. The political project of the commons suffers to establish itself at the municipal level outside the Catalan capital and not even the alliance with Podemos, with whom they sealed a pact to try to avoid the fragmentation of the 2019 vote, has managed to boost its results. Nor the support of Yolanda Díaz, devoted to the campaign of the commons from minute one with constant appearances in Catalonia.
On the contrary, the commons and Podemos worsen in these municipalities, with 8.85% of the votes cast in the set of municipalities in Catalonia. The decline does not reach a distance point compared to four years ago, just 0.57. But it is enough to leave fourteen councilors along the way, with 244 councilors in total, 5% fewer municipal representatives than in 2019. And most importantly: they lose steam in some of their historic squares, practically all of them, inherited from Initiative.
The competition with the PSC in the Barcelona metropolitan area, their main adversary in this electoral contest, has taken its toll on them. In Montcada i Reixac, where Laura Campos has governed for the last eight years, the commons go from first to second force behind the Catalan socialists. From 24.41% of the votes and seven councilors they drop to 22.25% and five councilors. In Sant Feliu de Llobregat, another of their strongholds (they split the mayoralty with ERC in the last cycle) they go from second to third most voted candidacy, with the PSC and ERC above. In Castelldefels, where Candela López, the national coordinator of Catalunya en Comú, has appeared, they also lose votes and councilors. And they disappear from Santa Coloma de Gramenet when they do not reach 5% of the votes. In 2019 they obtained three representatives in the city council. Nor did they manage to enter Girona and Terrassa, cities that also resisted them in the previous municipal ones. And in Lleida they lose one of the two councilors they had.
They revalidate victory in one of their strongholds, El Prat de Llobregat, where Lluís Mijoler is once again the candidate with the most votes. It is a municipality of great extra-municipal relevance, where one of the great political games is played around the possible expansion of the airport. Now, Mijoler also leaves these municipalities shorn. If in 2019 he got eleven councilors, while Podemos got one, now they are left with nine.
On the other hand, results did improve in Santa Perpètua de la Mogoda, going from nine to ten councilors and more than one voting point. And they double representation in Sabadell, with two councillors.
The project of the commons is, thus, very touched. The pacts that may arise in the cities from now on will be crucial to resist and rearm. But no matter how much they make a virtue of necessity in the municipalities, nothing could replace an eventual departure from the municipal government of Barcelona. The capital of Catalonia and Colau are the core of the party. And, to this day, they are more outside than inside the control room in Plaça Sant Jaume.
