The magnificent electoral cycle that the PSC is experiencing, which had its penultimate episode less than two months ago in the municipal elections, has been prolonged in these general elections with an overwhelming victory. The Socialists are not only sweeping Barcelona, ??but they are climbing to the top position in 65 of the 67 municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The only exceptions, in favor of Junts, Vic and Banyoles, numbers 24 and 66 respectively in the ranking of Catalan cities, although in the capital of Osona the PSC has been on the verge of carrying out the sorpasso.
In many municipalities in the metropolitan area, the Socialists practically double their closest pursuer in votes, but it is also that they clearly manage to win in populations that are often elusive to their interests.
The scrutiny in the capital has not had any resemblance to the exciting one on the night of May 28. From the first moment it has been seen that the PSC, which to date had won 10 of the 15 general meetings held in Barcelona, ??including the last two, was going to have no rival. The Socialists practically double the harvest of Sumar, who has starred in a close fight for the second position with the PP resolved in favor of the candidacy that had the support of the former mayor Ada Colau.
The struggle for the hegemony of a dwarfed independence movement has opted on this occasion for the ERC in a day that has confirmed, in case anyone still doubted it, that the great result of Junts in the municipal elections had a single person responsible, a candidate named Xavier and surnamed Trias.
The party of the current mayor, Jaume Collboni, has dyed the map of Barcelona red. In the repeated elections of 2019, the Socialists won in only three districts (Ciutat Vella, Horta-Guinardó and Nou Barris). This time they add another six and only the victory of the PP in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi avoids ten out of ten. The district in which traditionally the popular ones, and also in their time CiU or in the municipal Trias, get higher rents prevents, with its commitment to a change of government in Spain, a monocolor Barcelona.
The film from the capital is repeated, to a greater or lesser extent, in almost all the large Catalan cities. In the second, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, the PSC triples the votes of the second political force, the Popular Party. In Terrassa, Sumar sneaks into the second step of the podium ahead of the popular ones. And the same thing happens in Sabadell, where the top positions have identical starters.
But if a city exemplifies the contribution of the PSC to better PSOE results than the polls indicated, that is Badalona. The coastal municipality of Barcelonès Nord is also the best demonstration of the extent to which the electoral strength of a party can depend on the support generated by a certain politician, in this case a candidate for mayor. Two months ago, in the municipal elections, Xavier García Albiol took 37,000 votes from the PSC candidate. In the general elections, with Albiol already mayor but without Albiol a candidate, the Socialists won with a difference over the Populares of almost 24,000 ballots.
The Catalan provincial capitals follow the general rule and see clear victories for the PSC. In Tarragona and Lleida, cities that have had socialist mayors since June 17, Salvador Illa’s party is very close to doubling the results of the second, also in both cases the PP. Clara, likewise, is the victory in Girona ahead of Junts and ERC and where the formation of the new mayor, Lluc Salellas, fails with a bang and falls to sixth position.
