It has not been a night for the faint hearted in the Catalan capital. Xavier Trias, former Barcelona mayor for the CiU party who was beaten narrowly by Ada Colau in 2015, has managed to turn the tables on the Barcelona en Comú mayor, and win the 2023 elections in Barcelona, with 11 councillors, putting an end to two terms of Ada Colau governments. The Socialist (PSC) candidate, Jaume Collboni, came in second place with 10 councillors. For her part, Colau finished third, with 9 councillors, and thus the alternative left seems set to lose its main stronghold not only in Catalonia but also across the Spanish state. The Republican Left (ERC) candidate Ernest Maragall, who beat Colau four years ago to win on election night, lost half of his councillors, and was left with 5 seats. In the end, the ballot boxes broke the persistent three-way tie that the polls had indicated, and they also confirm the recovery of the Spanish conservative party, the People's Party, in Barcelona, with 4 councillors, on a night in which far-right Spanish nationalists Vox managed to enter the Catalan capital's city hall.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the election day polls pointed to a narrow victory for Ada Colau, followed by the Socialist Jaume Collboni and, in third place, Trias. However, as the vote count began, it was Collboni who climbed to first place and Colau was relegated to third position. Then the rollercoaster made its first twist. Cheers broke out at La Paloma dancehall when Barcelona en Comú picked up its tenth councillor, so that the three leaders were in a dead heat for seats: 10 each. Then, just before 10pm, with 65.8% of the vote counted in the Barcelona mayoral election, it was the turn of the Hotel Catalonia Ramblas to break into applause: for the first time on the night, Trias hit the front. The rollercoaster had looped the loop, and Trias did not move from the top spot as the counting concluded.
The candidate, who grouped his campaign around the pro-independence Together for Catalonia (Junts) party while seeking to reach beyond it, confirmed the so-called Trias effect, and has once won again won in Barcelona, 12 years after the victory in 2011 that placed him at the head of the council. The future government of the city will now depend on the post-election deals that have to be made. However, Trias's victory is clear and a pact with the PSC would be enough to obtain the city government, with an absolute majority of 21 councillors out of the 41 that make up the council.
Above, Results of Barcelona mayoral elections 2023 (outer circle) compared with 2019 (inner circle). Numbers of council seats won.
Xavier Trias gives his victory speech after winning the Barcelona city council elections: "I will be mayor."
Evolution of Barcelona municipal election results from 1979 to 2023 (% of votes won by parties)
In a complicated night for ERC, the centre-left pro-independence party received a serious setback in Barcelona as Ernest Maragall, who won the elections four years ago, lost half of his councillors and was left with 5 seats. This result was undoubtedly affected by the entry into the campaign of Trias, a direct rival in the pro-independence vote, but also by the party's strategy which forced Maragall to modulate his opposition in Barcelona following the deals between the Republicans and the Comuns at Catalan governmental level.
🔴 All our coverage in English of the 2023 Municipal Elections
🔴 Municipal results: see the results of your municipality
Vox enters Barcelona city hall
The election night TV3 poll was generally correct in its forecast of the distribution of minor party votes in Barcelona: the PP doubled its representation, from two councillors to four. The other unionist right wing groups previously represented, Ciudadanos and Valents, have disappeared from the council, after four years ago, with Manuel Valls, they won fourth position with 6 councillors. On the other hand, the Barcelona council has been radicalized towards the right with the entry of two Vox MPs, led by Gonzalo de Oro Pulido.