For the time being, the Junts per Catalunya executive has opted to slam the door on the Socialists’ pact offer in Barcelona Provincial Council – where they administered that mandate – and is now setting about “finding an alternative majority”. “. This was confirmed on Tuesday by the party’s spokesman, Josep Rius, without specifying with which parties it was specifically collaborating, without clarifying whether a possible failure of this new amount would mean a resumption of negotiations with the PSC or if the Popular Party would be included in these contacts.The plenary session on the constitution of the provincial entity continues without a specific date and would have to take place for the time being after July 10, when technically the last session of this mandate has to take place.
The spokesman never once mentioned his former partners in the Esquerra Republicana government, who would have to play a key role in achieving this alternative majority. The provincial council has 51 seats and its regulations provide that if no candidate receives 26 votes in the first ballot, the person with the greatest support is elected in the second ballot. PSC (17) and Junts (12) added up very comfortably, but with that door slamming and ERC’s (11) well-known veto over the Socialists, any sum Jordi Turull’s men want to wield will have real chances in the second round.
The proximity of the general elections, as the pro-independence movement wants to make the rejection of the election of Jaume Collboni mayor of Barcelona profitable in the elections, makes it very difficult for junts to garner support in the provincial council. Rius has accepted that there is a “before and after” after the move that made it impossible for Xavier Trias to reprise his post ahead of the alternate sum of PSC, Common and PP. “What happened is an example of bad politics. “It was a state operation to prevent the independence movement from running the city,” he said.
Rius also did not want to mention Tot per Terrassa (TxT) and has hidden behind the need to conduct the negotiations “with discretion”, not to say if there are already approaches. Jordi Ballart’s independent formation has just one stand-in who could be crucial in turning the tide on either side. PSC, Common (5) and TxT would add 23 seats. Junts, ERC and TxT too. In the city of Vallès, Ballart ruled in a coalition with the two pro-independence groups. “The Provincial Council does not belong to anyone, nor does it belong to the PSC,” he insisted on marking distances, although at no point did he categorically rule out that he might later return to the scenario of a repeat coalition.
Junts won 336 mayoral posts after 28-M, 274 of them with an absolute majority. The decision to close the door on the PSC means the sector will align itself on the executive branch with the mayors and local leaders of the party that has produced the majority of votes favoring a repeat of the coalition in the provincial government. If the PSC, who are also considering an alternative majority, emerge victorious, Jordi Turull’s men will lose the major speaker and local source of power left after the departure of the Catalan executive last October.
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