After being ousted by alternative pacts during two consecutive legislatures, the PP recovers the mayor's office of Castelldefels. Manu Reyes will once again be the mayor of the town of Baix Llobregat thanks to an agreement with SOM Castelldefels, a municipal candidate led by former PSC councilor Nico Cerpa. Badalona will no longer be the only town in the metropolitan area managed by the popular.
The PP explained this Tuesday through a press release that the intention of the agreement is to "recover people as the backbone of municipal policies." The new municipal government will have Reyes as mayor and Cerpa as first deputy mayor. Both formations add up to 15 councilors in a city where the absolute majority stands at 13 councillors.
With this pact, the PSC loses the mayoralty. María Miranda had governed the last legislature thanks to an agreement with ERC and Junts. After reaching an absolute majority in Badalona, the popular ones will also govern in another town in the Barcelona metropolitan area.
Manu Reyes was already mayor of Castelldefels between 2011 and 2015. Both that year and in 2019 he managed to be the force with the most votes in the municipal elections, a result that he achieved again on May 28 when the PP added 12 councilors. The PSC was the second force with 4, followed by SOM with 3, Movem en Comú Podem with 3, ERC with 2 and Junts with 1.
Nico Cerpa, a SOM candidate who has now agreed with Reyes, ended the legislature as a non-attached councilor after having disagreements with the mayoress, now in office, María Miranda (PSC). In fact, he abandoned socialist militancy and founded his own party, which has now been key to forming a new municipal government. Cerpa was councilor in charge of sports and the elderly for eight years.
"On May 28, the residents of Castelldefels showed a desire for transformation and change for the city," the PP said in its statement. "The only two forces that have increased support have been precisely the Popular Party and SOM Castelldefels," they recalled.
"Sports, health and the elderly will be very present in the decisions that are made," they promised in the statement. "The containment of the budget, the improvement of the cleanliness of the city, the increase in security, the reduction of taxes, the commitment to the defense of the natural environment and sustainability will be the priority axes of government action," they have sentenced.
Thus, Castelldefels joins Badalona as a town governed by the PP in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Although in the city of Barcelonès Xavier García Albiol reached an absolute majority. They become two of the few exceptions in an area where the PSC has returned to be hegemonic.
