In a campaign that is so boring, despite the many important things at stake, as that of the municipal elections in Catalonia, a blunder ceases to be an anecdote and acquires the category of a news story. The stupidity of the Together for Catalonia (Junts) organizing secretary and candidate for the mayoralty of Badalona, David Torrents, in stating that he preferred as mayor of his city the candidate of the People's Party (PP), Xavier García Albiol, before the number one of the Republican Left (ERC), Àlex Montornès, will undoubtedly be the gaffe of the campaign and that there are still ten days to go till May 28th. Torrents, part of the sector of Junts considered most pro-independence, was already embroiled in a controversy when he was proposed by Laura Borràs for the position he now holds - third-ranked in the party structure - and received a harsh wake-up message from the membership, which did not ratify him at the Congress held in Argelers. However, in a curious run-off, he obtained the necessary endorsements that he had failed to obtain months earlier.
Although Torrents has tried to correct his mistake, the damage was already done. Among other things, because coming out hours later saying the opposite of what you just stated is a difficult sell. Especially if your position in the party structure is certainly important and, moreover, you are the candidate for mayor of the fourth-largest city in Catalonia after Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Terrassa. You are not any old clueless politician, nor a candidate for a village of a thousand people. Perhaps this explains why the party holds a single councillor on the council out of the 27 possible, right on the 5% limit to be excluded from representation, compared to Albiol's 11 or the 7 held by the coalition Guanyem Badalona-Esquerra Republicana-Avancem-Més-Acord Municipal and which is now standing in separate parts, with ex-mayor Dolors Sabater heading the list of Guanyem and Montornès, that of the Republicans.
I don't know Torrents or Montornès and I'm very much afraid that neither of them will have options to occupy the mayoral office. It is not the first case in which the gulf between Junts and ERC in local groups is evident. But never has this been seen with a possible PP mayor in the middle. I would also like to note here that I believe it is more and more urgent to study an amendment of the electoral law to provide a second round in the investiture or for the candidate with the most votes to have a bonus to become mayor. It's a controversial issue, certainly, but I think it would improve the governance of municipalities and make them faster in making decisions. But that is not the subject of the debate at hand. What is dangerous is the evidence, once again, of the deep disagreement that has been generated between Junts and ERC - because it is reciprocal, even if the discipline of the latter mean that they are better at containing themselves dialectically - and that will take many years to heal.
It does not occur in all places where the two parties face off, but it is dangerously widespread across the territory. You just have to look at how some things are being said in this campaign, when they were obviously not expressed the same way in the municipal elections of 2019 or 2015. The fact that the first to disavow Torrents was the former mayor and candidate of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, shows the great value of experience and that there are two visions of politics, that of making deals and that of the interest of the majority of the public. And that it is perfectly understandable that in order to put an end to Colau's two mandates, Trias is open to working with the PSC and ERC if he wins the elections or that he is offering himself to the Socialists or the Republicans if they win. As well as insisting on receiving their votes, at least on the part of ERC, as Ernest Maragall had from Junts candidate Elsa Artadi four years ago.