The deputy of Congress and former councilor of the Commons, Gerardo Pisarello, officially presented this Saturday his candidacy in the common primary elections of Barcelona to be head of the list for the municipal elections of 2027. Supported by the former mayor Ada Colau and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, and in front of important names from the founding core of the party and his first mandate in Barcelona, he declared that he aspires to “be the first mayor of Barcelona of migrant origin, proudly Catalan, Latin American and lover of Montserrat Roig, Maria Mercè Marsal and the young Yammine Lamal.
In an internal climate of accumulation of unrest that surfaced during the executive elections of recent weeks, and of nervousness due to the shock that the announcement of the candidacy for the primaries of communicator Bob Pop caused within the party, Pisarello wanted to advance his presentation. It has become clear that he is the candidate of the founding core and he has not yet revealed which woman he will associate with on the 2027 list. The deputy assured that if he were a candidate, he would have Bob Pop – “at my side”, he said – and that he hoped that he would participate in the electoral campaign “as he always did”. The writer and critic holds meetings with party activists who have been approached by names from the second line of the party.
On Friday, the Barcelona plenary session approved the regulations for the primary elections, which provide that the numbers one and two on the list elect the third, fourth and fifth positions. The rest of the list, numbers six to 15, will be chosen by open primaries, a risky decision, admit the votes of the party itself. The idea is to close applications during the first quarter of next year.
In his speech, Pisarello was convinced that “Barcelona can be a beacon of hope in the middle of a dark night as resistance and as a fairer and more livable city.” He attacked the current mayor, Jaume Collboni, but quietly, but briefly: “He was not up to the task, he lacked ambition, he was complacent with the powerful and incapable of articulating progressive majorities,” he declared. Pisarello, who presented his candidacy at the Ca l’Isidret civic center in Sant Martí, assured that he was addressing precarious people, those who cannot pay the rent, and showed himself ready to work to “avoid being a resident of Barcelona from being a privilege”.
As the Commons had already done at its congress last July, it once again raised the idea of a “broad left front”, with alliances with unions, businesses and other parties. But he did not answer the question of whether he would be willing to abandon the acronym Barcelona en comú.
Former mayor Colau assured that Pisarello, with whom, in addition to having governed, they are “friends and family,” she said, “is a person that Barcelona needs.” “We need to regain the momentum of 2015,” he said. And Minister Urtasun said he was confident in the recovery in Barcelona of the two mandates of the municipalities in the government and of “the spirit of putting the people at the center”.
In recent months and weeks, Barcelona as a whole has experienced a climate of unrest due to a multitude of accumulated causes. It is no longer so much about the coexistence between the two souls (the more militant and the one who comes from ICV) or the systematic selection of leaders by hand by the founding management, but also the concern for demobilization or the fact that Colau took two years to reveal whether he was leaving or staying, which many see as a waste of precious time to prepare a new candidacy.
Also hampering was the background of Pisarello, who floated the idea of running on the same day that the party’s leader on the city council, Janet Sanz, announced her departure. This groundswell was visible during the process of the executive elections, where, despite the victory on the official list, those close to Pisarello obtained poor results. Sanz was not present this Saturday at the presentation of the candidacy for the primaries. Yes, fifteen names who represent the founding core and the executives of the first government at the City Hall did it: Jaume Asens, Gemma Tarafa, Eloi Badia, Jordi Molina, Josep Maria Montaner, Ancor Mesa, Marc Serra or Jordi Ayala.
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