The municipal elections in Terrassa (Vallès Occidental) will serve to assess whether Jordi Ballart’s solo project has taken root after he seized hegemony from the PSC four years ago. The current mayor presented himself with a platform created from scratch, Tot per Terrassa, after resigning from the mayoralty and breaking the socialist card in 2017.
Faced with his successor, Alfredo Vega, he burst into plenary session with 10 councilors that allowed him to govern by agreeing with ERC, with whom he has maintained a good understanding during his term, and relegating the Socialists to the opposition. The rest of the forces with a presence in plenary renew the candidates, with Eva Candela in the PSC, Ona MartÃnez in ERC, Isabel MartÃnez in Ciudadanos and Meritxell LuÃs in Junts.
After four years leading the City Council under the acronym of the newly created political project, Ballart has impregnated the stamp of a way of governing based on proximity and direct dealings with citizens, especially through social networks. The illness of his son in the middle of the term caused him to physically move away from the city, but he did not stop exercising his functions at the head of the consistory.
Ballart broke the PSC card in 2017 as a result of the role that the socialists had played in the most intense moments of the Procés, especially 1-O and the support in the application of article 155. Apart from the first political line, he built his new project, which led him to the mayoralty in 2019.
In the second stage as mayor, he relegated the PSC as the main opposition party. The obtaining of 10 councilors and the fact that the Socialists went from 9 to 7 made the abyss between the two formations bigger, not only in terms of results but also in the relations between them.
Ballart was able to set up its first executive outside the PSC thanks to a pact with the ERC of Isaac Albert, who has resigned as councilor this year to make way for his successor and now mayoral candidate, Ona MartÃnez.
The alliance has given stability to the government that has allowed city projects to move forward with the freedom given by the majority in plenary session, despite the manifest disagreements between the two partners in specific terms such as the projection of the Ronda Vallès between the city ​​and Terrassa, following the route of the Quart Cinturó: while the Republicans maintain their ‘no’ on the road, Ballart sees it as necessary so that the traffic of the B-40 does not die “in a roundabout to the north of the city” .
The Socialists, for their part, have also chosen to renew candidates. This year they have transferred the trust to Eva Candela. On her are placed the hopes of recovering the mayoralty and trying to recover the hegemony lost in 2019, as well as the first place in number of votes in municipal elections in the capital of Vallès. Candela herself has expressed that she wants to be “the first woman mayor of the city.”
Junts also renews its candidate and, if four years ago the mayor was LluÃs Puig, already in exile, now it will be Meritxell LluÃs, a partner of former minister Josep Rull, who will lead the project in Terrassa. He will do it in a joint candidacy with the philologist Montserrat Cupena as number 2, after an agreement that prevented the candidates to lead the list from going to internal primaries.
Junts does not have electoral rights for the 2019 elections, which fall to the PDeCAT. Despite the fact that it took until the last day to be able to present lists, the formation finally positioned Joan Barrios as a candidate for Ara Pacte Local.
Cs is committed to maintaining its weight in the consistory with Isabel MartÃnez at its head, while forces that were excluded four years ago from the plenary session knock on the door for renewed candidacies. This is the case of Terrassa en Comú Podem with Agnès Petit, the CUP with Jaume Bofill or the PP with Marta Giménez.
During this mandate, sustainable mobility has been launched and for this purpose a street space has been created in the center of the city where circulation has been limited to residents and services. An action that has generated some rejection due to the impediments that reaching downtown spaces has entailed, although it is defended as one more step to release polluting emissions in the heart of the city.
However, during the next mandate, a milestone will be achieved, such as the commissioning of the Quart Cinturó in the Viladecavalls – Abrera section, after years of works and delays, and which will open a direct route between Terrassa and Baix Llobregat. This will lead to an increase in vehicles in the northern sector of the city, which will have to be resolved to avoid excessive traffic or caravans of vehicles.
The bet on the part of the plenary to expand the Quart Cinturó to Sabadell, as is the case of TxT, while other formations, such as ERC, have always defended that this expansion is not necessary. All together while the city has opted to protect the natural environment of the city, the Anella Verda.
