“Ohhhhh!” was heard this Sunday on the ground floor of the commons headquarters on Marina Street in Barcelona. It was at the moment when the possibility of a left-wing Government stopped gaining an absolute majority in a heart-stopping vote. Minutes later, a hypothetical agreement between the PSC, ERC and Comuns Sumar became possible again. And then expressions of relief rang out. The sounds came from the upper floor, where the party leaders were. They were so evident that even the journalists heard them without difficulty from below. For those led by Jéssica Albiach, it was absolutely key that a left-wing pact was possible after 12-M. The opposite left them out of the game on the Catalan political board.
The polls did not smile on Comuns Sumar, who lost two deputies. Even so, the night was not entirely bitter for Albiach and his people because they understand that there is the possibility of forging a left-wing stage in the Parliament. It will not be easy, since ERC announced that after its debacle it wants to go over to the opposition. Although not at any price, a progressive pact to make progressive policies is the trump card of the commons. During the electoral campaign, not only did they not hide it, but they exposed it to the maximum. With the election results in hand, the message was the same.
When President Pere Aragonès revealed that his intention was to join the opposition, no sound was heard from the common leaders’ room. Maybe Albiach was talking on the phone. Shortly afterwards, before journalists, the Comuns Sumar candidate assured that she had called the PSC candidate, Salvador Illa, to congratulate him on the victory and suggest reaching an agreement. She also urged him, the Valencian explained, to rule out an agreement with Junts, in what would be a kind of sociovergence that also adds a majority.
Albiach came out in an appearance without questions from the media surrounded by the common staff. To the right of him, the Minister of Culture and spokesperson for Sumar, Ernest Urtasun; To the left of him, the former mayor of Barcelona, ??Ada Colau. Also present were the number two of the candidacy, Lluís Mijoler, the deputy Joan Mena, and the former deputy and bet of the commons for the European elections, Jaume Asens, among others. His faces were not happy, but not sad either. Bittersweet gestures, although applause rang out before Jéssica Albiach’s intervention.
“It is not the result we expected. We wanted to have more strength,” Albiach acknowledged after going from eight to six deputies, losing more than 14,000 votes and more than one percentage point compared to 2021. The commons left one deputy for Barcelona and were left without representation for Tarragona. Together with the CUP, they were the greatest exponents of the rejection of the controversial Hard Rock casino, planned in Tarragona. In the territory, the message was not electorally favorable to them. They dreamed of achieving representation in Girona as they did in the last Congressional elections. They stayed far away.
And then the other side of the coin. “We are essential to open a stage of the left,” said Albiach. He did not define what type of stage. A Government of socialists and commoners with ERC supporting the investiture is a possibility. “Catalonia needs and deserves a left-wing Government,” he insisted. “Among the progressive forces we may have differences, but given the rise of the right and the extreme right we have to agree,” he argued.
