All quiet on the Barcelona electoral front after the official vote count held this Friday, five days after the municipal elections. Jaume Collboni has retained second place and Ada Colau, third. In fact, if before, only 141 votes separated Collboni's Catalan Socialists (PSC) and Colau's Barcelona en Comú, after today's official count the difference has widened by 201 votes in favour of Collboni, up to 342 ballot papers. The Comuns have reported that once they receive the record of the general scrutiny, they, along with all the parties, will have 24 hours to review whether the amendments made to the material errors detected have been correctly amended. If this has not been the case, they can ask for clarification.
The importance of the second position in Barcelona
The official count, which took place in Barcelona in the City of Justice court complex, is carried out after each and every election in the Spanish state, although this year they were of particular interest in Barcelona due to the closeness of the vote counts for Colau and Collboni on 28th May. The difference ofjust 141 votes led to the possibility that the incumbent, and now acting, mayor could overtake the candidate who until last month February was her deputy mayor. Whoever occupies the second position may still have options to be mayor if they achieve an alternative pact that prevents the head of the winning candidature, in this case, Xavier Trias, leader of the Junts-oriented Trias for Barcelona list, from becoming mayor. From third position, this is practically impossible.
Post-election negotiations continue
The fact that the official count reinforces the existing advantage of Collboni over Colau also means that there is no change in the negotiations taking place between the parties over the eventual selection of the new Barcelona mayor. From the outset, the BComú candidacy opened up the possibility of making Collboni mayor with a left-wing tripartite in which Ernest Maragall's Republican Left (ERC) also participated. However, Maragall, who was denied the mayoral office four years ago by Comuns and Socialists after Manuel Valls invested Colau, does not seem to be willing.
This refusal by the Republican, accompanied by that of the rest of his party, who look more favourably on Trias as a future mayor, has infuriated the other so-called progressive parties on the council, who see that the possibility of a tripartite to avoid a Trias mayoralty is fading away. This afternoon, the PSC councillor Laia Bonet raised the tone against ERC, accusing them of putting the independence process ahead of progress, of burying the possibility of a coalition and also of betraying their voters. The PSC has thus ruled out supporting Trias, and have confirmed that they will present Collboni's candidacy at the investiture plenary.