Barcelona's political scene is intensifying as major parties confirm their mayoral candidates. This sets the stage for the municipal elections on 23 May 2027. Voters will head to the polls 11 months from now. Several key challengers are now officially declared against current Mayor Jaume Collboni.
Recent days have seen significant developments in the race. Jordi Martí Galbis was named Junts' mayoral candidate on Sunday. He secured a clear victory in internal primaries. On Friday, Aliança Catalana officially backed Jordi Aragonès. Aragonès is a party ideologue. These two join Elisenda Alamany of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and Gerardo Pisarello of Barcelona en Comú. Both Alamany and Pisarello were confirmed earlier this year. Pisarello, with Carol Recio as his running mate, won the Comuns' primaries in February. Alamany was ratified as ERC's candidate without rivals. She secured 427 membership endorsements.
The Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC) has not yet formally confirmed Jaume Collboni as its candidate. However, his nomination is widely expected later this year. Collboni, as the incumbent mayor, holds an advantage. He has a year left in office. He focuses on major urban reforms across the city. These include projects like the revitalisation of La Rambla. Other plans involve covering the Ronda de Dalt ring road and improving Avinguda Meridiana. Public opinion polls suggest Collboni is likely to win the elections. He could secure a second term.
Key Challengers Emerge
The Partit Popular (PP) also confirmed its candidate recently. Miguel Tellado, the party's general secretary, announced Daniel Sirera as their mayoral hopeful. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the national leader, had already tasked Sirera with preparing the party list. Sirera has been acting as a candidate at events city-wide for weeks. He carries the political weight of having helped Collboni become mayor in the previous election. Of the six parties currently represented in the city council, only Vox has not yet publicly named its candidate. Party sources state no updates exist regarding their nominee or the announcement date. Vox will form an electoral committee to appoint candidates across Spain. It remains unclear if Gonzalo de Oro, the current municipal group president, will repeat his candidacy. Another name mentioned is Joan Garriga, a Member of the Catalan Parliament.
New Political Voices and Alliances
The Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (CUP) did not secure council representation in the 2023 elections. The anti-capitalist party aims to form its new candidacy. It plans to name a lead candidate for Barcelona by autumn 2026. Before this, a municipalist popular assembly will take place in July. City activists are driving this initiative. CUP Barcelona, Comunistes de Catalunya, and Anticapitalistes support it. CUP Barcelona is working on a “renewed tool.” This candidacy aims to be a “strong and useful opposition to Collboni and the threat of the far right.” The party speaks of “self-criticism” and rebuilding itself. It extends an invitation to all who wish to join forces for a “popular unity.” This unity seeks to “build an alternative.” This alternative challenges the political framework in the city and confronts conservative trends.
Independent and Citizen Initiatives
Santiago Espot, a former mayoral candidate for Solidaritat Catalana in 2011, also intends to run. His independent pro-independence list stems from a manifesto. A hundred citizens signed this document. They warn of an “emergency situation” in Barcelona. They advocate for a candidacy to “reverse the destructive dynamics” of recent municipal governments. Espot explains his will be a coalition of “so-called small parties.” This group will announce itself in the autumn. It does not yet have a name. Espot suggests the name “might play with my surname.” He differentiates his economic model from Aliança Catalana's. He criticises the “lobby” Barcelona Global and the “upper Diagonal” area. Espot claims these “elites are profiting from cheap immigration” and workers with “miserable wages” and undeclared labour. In a post on X, Espot referred to Barcelona Global as “the lobby of large corporations that, for years, has done and undone in the nation's capital, with total impunity and with all our money.”
Another group planning to run is Gent de Barcelona. This is an electors' association led by Maria Chacón. Chacón is a former Junts councillor in Ciutat Vella. Gent de Barcelona does not want to become a political party. Therefore, it must gather approximately 8,000 signatures to participate in the elections. Chacón describes it as a “citizen movement.” The association champions civility and security “without complexes.”
Council Composition and Past Elections
Barcelona currently has over 1.7 million residents. If this population figure remains stable by 31 December this year, the city council will increase by two councillors. This means the number will rise from 41 to 43 after the 23 May 2027 elections. This change will likely fragment the Plenary Council even further. Instead of six parties, there could be at least seven. This is partly due to Aliança Catalana's emergence. Unlike the Catalan Parliament, which requires 3% of votes for representation, the city council needs 5%.
The previous municipal elections saw Junts, led by Xavier Trias, win. They secured nearly 150,000 votes and 11 councillors. However, Trias could not form a coalition government with ERC. Collboni was instead invested as mayor with votes from the PP and Barcelona en Comú. This move aimed to prevent an independentist mayor from taking office. A similar scenario occurred in 2019. Ernest Maragall's ERC won the elections then. Three votes from Manuel Valls' coalition allowed Ada Colau to repeat as mayor.
Collboni's Governance and Future Outlook
Throughout his current term, Mayor Collboni has governed with only 10 councillors. Despite this, he has faced few major problems. He has not approved any budget through ordinary means. It is unlikely he will do so for the 2027 budget either. ERC has been Collboni's primary government partner. The republicans have twice voted in favour of municipal accounts. This happened in exchange for various city agreements. Together with Barcelona en Comú, the left-wing tripartite has agreed to advance two fiscal ordinances. These focus on increasing tourist taxation. One critical agreement was the rise in the municipal surcharge on the tourist tax, proposed by ERC. Collboni has also reached agreements with Junts. The main one involved revising the Civility Ordinance to make it stricter.
The upcoming elections promise a dynamic political contest. The confirmed candidacies and emerging groups suggest a potentially more fragmented council. This will likely lead to complex negotiations for forming a governing coalition.
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Originally published by Tot Barcelona. Read original article.
