The federation of Junts in Barcelona is pressuring the party to choose the candidate for the formation in the Catalan capital before the end of this year, as explained by sources consulted by Europa Press.
It is expected that on November 29, the National Council will approve the regulation to designate candidates for the municipal elections. The party has been postponing the decision for some time to find a consensus name that avoids the holding of primaries, without success so far.
The regulation text, currently being amended, includes a specific framework for choosing the candidate for Barcelona that keeps three options open: direct proclamation, the possibility of proposing a name that must be ratified in an assembly, or holding primaries.
The aforementioned sources have specified that the Barcelona federation wants the candidate’s name to be announced coinciding with the Christmas dinner scheduled to be held in mid-December at the Cotxeres de Sants, just as Xavier Trias did in 2022.
Trias also made the audience wait, but in the same setting, he finally announced that he would be Junts’ candidate for the mayor of Barcelona in an attempt to regain the Catalan capital, which he held from 2011 to 2015 and lost that year to Ada Colau.
At the moment, those aspiring to lead the list in Barcelona are the current councilor of Junts and vice president of the party, Josep Rius, a trusted person of the party’s president, Carles Puigdemont, and the leader of the municipal group, Jordi Martí, who has the support and endorsement of Trias to be his successor.
Efforts made so far to avoid a clash between them, and consequently the holding of primaries, have been in vain, and the decision is still pending given the circumstances a year and a half before the municipal elections of 2027.
Beyond Rius and Martí, other names have been explored, such as former President of the Generalitat Artur Mas and former councilor Quim Forn, who have declined the offer. There has also been speculation about former councilors Josep Maria Argimon, Victòria Alsina, Damià Calvet, and Jaume Giró, among others.
### MUNICIPAL TERRITORIAL COMMISSION
Once the Municipal Territorial Commission (CMT) is established and the leadership orders the activation of the mechanism, the start of the process and the deadline for submitting candidacies will be announced. After that, the applicants must collect the endorsement of at least 20% of the census of party members and sympathizers in the municipality.
After learning the names of the candidates who have managed to collect the necessary support to run, the CMT will have 24 hours to choose which of the three options to apply and when it will be known, consequently, if there will be primaries in Junts to choose the mayoral candidate for Barcelona.
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