The leader of Aliança Catalana and mayor of Ripoll, Sílvia Orriols, has set conditions for whoever intends to count on her votes to become the next president of the Generalitat. The candidate of the far-right party has rejected the idea that her party is going to provide her votes “for free” and has made any possibility of an agreement – ??very remote – subject to immigration control in Catalonia.
In statements to TV3, Orriols has indicated that any possibility of having the two votes of Aliança Catalana in an investiture session necessarily requires the application of a series of measures “aimed at exercising border control and limiting the entry of immigrants.”
This first speech after last Sunday’s elections is in line with the one that this formation has been using since its foundation, during the municipal election campaign a year ago in Ripoll that catapulted Orriols to the mayor’s office and with that of the the Catalan ones, in which she has managed to enter the Parliament with a representative for Lleida (Ramon Abad) and another for Girona (herself).
The hypothetical support of Aliança Catalana also has as a condition the proclamation of Catalonia as a “free state.”
It so happens that Aliança Catalana, which was competing for the first time in Parliamentary elections after its debut in Ripolll in the previous municipal elections, is one of the only four parties that have managed to win in a Catalan municipality. The one that has achieved the most local victories is Junts, with 726 (126 more than three years ago). The PSC has won 170 (62 more than in the 2021 elections). As in general terms, ERC has also suffered a setback in this aspect, going from being the leading political force in 261 municipalities to obtaining first place in only 47. Next comes Aliança Catalana, which is the candidate with the most votes in Ripoll and in three other towns in the Ripollès region.
The highest percentage of votes for Sílvia Orriols’s formation occurs in Les Lloses (35.05%). The other two municipalities that fall on their side are Campdevànol (26.52%) and Gombren, although in this case tied at 26 votes with Junts. In addition, Aliança Catalana wins in 16 of the 8,940 polling stations spread across Catalonia, also all of them located in the four municipalities of Ripollès.
Sílvia Orriols already announced on Sunday night, shortly after knowing the results and the entry of Aliança Catalana in the Parliament, that she has no intention of resigning from the mayor’s office of Ripoll, from where with great activity on social networks and a belligerent discourse on immigration has burst into Catalan politics with the force of more than 118,000 votes.
