The return from the Easter break has meant the launch of the final stage of the campaign for the municipal elections on 28 May. During this first week of the electoral race in Barcelona we witnessed a curious duel between the mayor Ada Colau and the PSC candidate Jaume Collboni. Both have been government partners until a few weeks ago and their parties continue to govern together both in Barcelona City Council and in Moncloa. But according to the poisoned darts that are being thrown, no one would say that Colau and Collboni have shared the government this legislature.
The mayoress and candidate for re-election describes her ex-partner as “frivolous” for the knock on the door he gave when he left the City Council to face the electoral battle without the ties of being in the municipal government. In addition, Colau accuses Collboni of flirting with the candidacy of Xavier Trias (Junts) and, for this reason, stands as the only guarantor of a progressive pact both in Barcelona and in the Generalitat and in the central government because it casts doubt what the others will do, both PSC and ERC.
Collboni’s response was a kick that hurts her ex-government partner the most: “Don’t give lessons in progressivism when she is mayor without having won the elections and thanks to the centre-right vote”. The rebuke of the socialist mayor refers to the vote given away by the group of Manuel Valls who handed the baton to Colau four years ago.
This pimp-pam can be explained for at least two reasons. The first is Collboni’s attempt to open a gap in the polarization of the electoral debate between Colau and Trias. And the second reason is that both the mayoress and her outgoing mayor know that they are facing their last political opportunity at City Hall and they need victory or the possibility of governing because, otherwise, their withdrawal will be inevitable. Therefore, it will be vital for both of them to stay ahead of the other.
Meanwhile, Xavier Trias eats popcorn in front of the shock of his rivals, even though the polls these days point to a stagnation of his candidacy which brings Colau and Collboni even closer together. According to these polls, the three candidates are now more tied than three months ago and, in this way, the electoral campaign is becoming decisive, especially because a high percentage of undecideds remains.
Even so, there are more and more voices warning of the relationship between the results of the municipal and general elections. In this sense, Colau does not rule out that Barcelona is one of the conditions that his party puts in a future negotiation to form the Government of Spain after the elections in December. It is true that we will have the local elections first, but nothing prevents the mayor who is elected in May from being ousted later by a motion of no confidence that responds to a general agreement in Spain. Hence the importance of being first in May.
