At a castellan day in Vilafranca, I was introduced to some candidates for mayor, and professor Jaume Rafecas warned me that I would like the election slogan of the young ERC candidate: “Vilafranca with new shoes”. We had a shoe store at home and I know many phrases made with reference to footwear, but I don’t understand the meaning of the recommendation until I realize that the candidate’s last name allows you to play with it: Sàbat, Pere Sàbat. It’s not a shoehorned pun. In fact, it’s such a subtle coincidence that it might go unnoticed by many people.

But my friend Rafecas, who is an expert verbivore, has done well to put himself in my shoes (what in English they would say “in my shoes”) because I immediately begin to guess that candidate Sàbat will rest happily during the day of Sabbath reflection.

Municipal elections are so personal that they encourage playing with the candidates’ surnames. On this occasion, the candidate Xavier Trias has ruled out conjugating the verb triar, as he had done other times, but the Junts a Premià de Dalt candidate (Josep Triadó) does play with it: “Tria Triadó”. In Valencia, the current mayor for Compromís Joan Ribó proposes “Riboluciona Valencia”.

In Cambrils, the candidate for ERC takes advantage of the fact that her name is Camí Mendoza to say “We walk with you” and in Torredembarra, the candidate for the PSC, Valeriano Pino, emboldens herself with “What’s worth, VALE!”. The problem is that among the other nine candidacies competing with Vale in Torredembarra is that of the Valents party. is it worth In La Garriga, on the other hand, Valents does not run, and perhaps that is why the PSC candidate Àlex Valiente sports the slogan “The brave mayor”.

Municipals are a festival. There are so many candidates that a string of verses with all the slogans would be longer than Verdaguer’s Atlantis.

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