The former mayor of Barcelona wants to take advantage of the upcoming general elections to promote a united candidacy of comuns, ERC, and CUP for the Catalan elections in 2028, according to El Independiente.
The former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, is willing to run in the upcoming general elections if a unity candidacy between Sumar and Podemos materialises. However, her real goal is not to remain in the Congress of Deputies, but to use that seat as a springboard to leap into the lists for the Catalan elections in 2028 and, if conditions allow, aspire to the presidency of the Generalitat. This is revealed by information from El Independiente.
The plan of the former councillor of Barcelona for two terms involves building a broad-spectrum candidacy in Catalonia that groups together the comuns, ERC, CUP, and leaders currently distanced from the front line of politics, such as the former coordinator of Catalunya en Comú, Xavier Domènech. The thesis is not new: the former ERC deputy in Congress, Joan Tardá, one of the political godfathers of Gabriel Rufián, has long advocated for such an alliance. However, the republican leadership does not see it clearly, and its leader, Oriol Junqueras, has already launched his own candidacy for the Generalitat.
Making a broad-spectrum candidacy, a leftist front, possible in Catalonia
The declared purpose of this operation is to curb the rise of Alianza Catalana, the party of Silvia Orriols, which some polls already place as the second force in the Parlament, behind the PSC and ahead of ERC and Junts. The fear that the far-right independence movement will capitalise on discontent is the argument put forward by supporters of unity. Additionally, the socialist Salvador Illa could suffer significant electoral wear, with losses of up to eleven seats, even if he wins the elections, according to a Sigma Dos poll for El Mundo dated September 11.
The current numbers in the Catalan hemicycle explain the urgency. Illa governs with the parliamentary support of ERC and the comuns, which together hold 68 seats out of the 135 that make up the Chamber. The CUP, with 4, voted against the investiture. The idea now is to incorporate the anti-capitalists into the equation to not waste a single vote. In the 2024 regional elections, ERC lost 13 seats, the CUP 5, and the comuns went from 8 to 6: the alternative left lost 20 deputies in total.
On the opposite flank, the possibilities of forming a post-electoral front between Alianza Catalana, Junts, PP, and Vox are virtually nil. Another matter is whether Carles Puigdemont's group would join forces with the PSC and the rest of the left to re-invest Illa, a hypothesis that some consider as a way out of a potential deadlock.
The first stop on the calendar is the general elections, still without a date. In that scenario, Colau would have to decide whether to compete against the current Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun. Sources from the space indicate that precious months have been lost to finalise unity. For the reader in Catalonia, the outcome of this struggle will mark the electoral offer of the left in the upcoming elections and, in the medium term, the correlation of forces in the Parlament.
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