The return of Xavier Trias to the political front line could not be more triumphant. Eight years after being surprisingly kicked out of the mayoralty of Barcelona, the Junts candidate - the independence brand that he has hidden throughout the electoral campaign - has confirmed the good vibes that accompanied the announcement of his return on December and won by more than 17,000 votes over the socialist Jaume Collboni and the current mayor, Ada Colau. Trias breaks the triple tie that all the polls indicated, although the minimal difference over his adversaries in the number of councilors obtained does not yet guarantee that he will regain control of the city on June 17.
Today begins the second round of the elections, the one contested in the offices, and the experience of four years ago, when a maneuver executed by the former French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, orchestrated by the PSC, usurped the Republican Ernest Maragall the victory achieved at the polls and allowed Ada Colau to revalidate the position, advises not to take anything for granted. The 11 councilors obtained by Xavier Trias place him on the exit ramp of this decisive turn in first position. Adding its 11 councilors to the PSC's 10, it would reach an absolute majority. Only a pact between socialists, communes and republicans would prevent him from returning to the mayor's office.
"I will be mayor of Barcelona", proclaimed the winner of the elections, the first to appear in front of the media and the militancy - a textbook effect -, knowing that in the event that in the coming weeks it is not possible to build an alternative of all against him will be invested in his condition as head of the most voted list. But the PSC, as Collboni announced amid cries of "mayor, mayor" from the socialist militants, "does not give up anything". The PSC candidate, arguing that "Barcelona needs to open a stage of progress and stability", hinted at the possibility of this left-wing tripartite with republicans and commoners that was not possible in the previous mandate.
Collboni's warning won several minutes later. Colau, although she stated that "it has been a pride to be mayor of Barcelona for eight years" (it sounded like we've come this far), then invoked a left-wing pact to continue developing progressive policies. "We add 24 - he recalled - including in this arithmetic the party that left without the mayor's office four years ago.
For the Socialists, who had invested in a victory in Barcelona much of their aspirations to save these elections in Spain as a whole and who were fully confident of regaining the hegemony lost twelve years ago, yesterday's result has little taste, especially if you compare the behavior of the PSC in the capital with that of most of the main Catalan cities. It could have been worse: the end of the vote was not for the faint of heart, with the Socialists watching as the Commons cut them vote by vote in a recount in which a seat was at stake that could alter the balance of power. Finally, the balance went in favor of the PSC by only 141 votes, which allowed it to leave the result of the Collboni-Colau duel at a tight 10 to 9.
Yesterday's election day confirms, on the other hand, the bad timing of ERC, a formation that has not profited from governing alone in the Generalitat, but rather the opposite. Ernest Maragall has paid dearly for this erosion of the party and sees his current presence in the City Hall cut in half. Even so, the choice of the next mayor is in his hands.
The 28-M elections in Barcelona, as in the rest of Catalonia, confirm that Ciutadans is history and that the brand born from its split, Valents, does not fill the void left by the orange party. For the PP, the results of these elections represent an improvement after four years ago they were on the verge of being left out of the City Council. Nevertheless, the irruption of Vox, which enters the Consistory for the first time with two councilors, throws water into the wine of the popular party, which with these results will hardly be decisive as it was intended. Unlike Vox, the CUP, for the second consecutive time, is unable to break the 5% barrier and will have to wait another four years to try to return to the Barcelona City Council.
