The lack of an alternative agreement to curb the extreme right in Ripoll yesterday allowed Sílvia Orriols, head of the list of the party that won the elections, Aliança Catalana, to become mayor of the municipality. The tripartite pact between ERC, PSC and Alternativa per Ripoll-CUP, announced at the beginning of the week to make Chantal Pérez (ERC) mayor, which was insufficient and required Junts’ support for the investiture, did not bear fruit. Nor did the alternative pact that Junts’ candidate, Manoli Vega, undertook to lead with ERC and the PSC, excluding the CUP.
Without an agreement, it will be Aliança Catalana, which won the elections with 30% of the votes and six councilors, who will govern Ripoll in the minority. The possibility of presenting a motion of censure was already discussed at yesterday’s investiture plenary. It was in the mouth of Manoli Vega, the mayor of Junts per Ripoll, on whom many eyes focused yesterday. Not only those of the three left-wing forces that waited until the last moment for their support for an alternative investiture, but also of the Junts executive, which criticized the final decision adopted by its councilors of “no prevent” the mayorship of Aliança Catalana because they considered that it “transcends Ripoll”.
The party’s executive also criticized the actions of the formations that have prevented the alternative government proposed by Junts’ candidate. “Party interests, sectarianism and political myopia have prevented a central, stable and strong government”, pointed out from the party’s national leadership, which asked the rest of the political forces to start negotiations to “agree on a new municipal government “.
Vega, who maintained until the end the offer to weave an alternative pact with the PSC and ERC, indicated that “as of this Monday” he proposes “to lead a motion of censure, if appropriate, to curb exclusionary speeches and of hatred” and urged the other forces to “stand by their side”. A fact that was criticized by the candidate of Alternativa for Ripoll-CUP, Dani Vilaseca. “The responsibility is not Monday, it is today – yesterday for the reader – that by voting for herself, she will give the mayorship to the extreme right; it is legal, but it marks a before and an after for Ripoll”, he pointed out.
Sílvia Orriols, the first woman to win a democratic election in Ripoll, wanted to send a message of calm in her first speech. “Ripoll will not have a far-right government”, assured Orriols and pledged to govern with “responsibility”, “courage” and “sanity”. However, he made it clear that his priority will be to start the procedures to close the city’s mosque.
Before the plenary session of the City Council, just over a hundred people gathered at the doors of the council building with proclamations against racism, fascism and the councilors of the Catalan Alliance.
