Ada Colau looks for the hand to hand with Xavier Trias

BarcelonaThe first televised debate of the 28-M election campaign in Barcelona arrived early – before the campaign even officially begins this midnight – but not early, since it started after 10.30 pm, when TVE had already had time to broadcast an episode of the series 4 Estrellas. It was late and there were up to seven candidates on set, so everyone went for work. It was enough with the first five minutes to see how a totus was articulated against Ada Colau – with the rest of the candidates, even Jaume Collboni, suspending the last four years of the municipal government -; to verify that the socialist candidate will not have an easy time balancing being both government and opposition at the same time – the rest immediately criticized him – and to verify that the right wants to exploit the controversy surrounding the eviction of La Ruina and El Kubo, two buildings in the Bonanova that have been occupied for years.

The first triumph of the night was, in fact, for Anna Grau (Cs), Daniel Sirera (PP) and Eva Parera (Valents), who made the opening half hour pivot entirely around this case and went accuse the communes but also the PSC of acting in complicity with the squatters. Colau, for his part, accused them of trying to “ignite the conflict irresponsibly”, and tried to redirect the discussion to areas where he feels more comfortable such as housing, pollution or mobility – he announced the creation of new green axes in the next mandate if he governs.

But if the candidate of the Commons made an effort in anything, it was to seek a hand-to-hand match with the Junts candidate, Xavier Trias, thus strengthening the confrontation that favors him the most because it fuels the hypothesis of a two-way race between them and the ex-mayor who can be decisive to finish in front in an election in which there are currently up to four candidates with options. “We are disputing the leadership of the polls”, he told Trias at one point during the night, and that is why he avoided the duels with Jaume Collboni or Ernest Margall and preferred to point out at various times data on unemployment, housing, schools cradle and pollution to contrast them with the municipal government of Trias between 2011 and 2015.

PSC and ERC fight against the clamp

Colau’s strategy benefited Trias, who severely judged the work of the current government and presented himself as the man who can provide a “new leadership” that will restore “self-esteem” in Barcelona. The debate also made it possible to see how difficult it can be for Maragall and Collboni to escape this Trias-Colau grip. Both also presented themselves as the candidates who can open a “new stage” in Barcelona and tried to take advantage of the tailwind given to them by the fact that their parties govern the Generalitat and the State respectively, and take advantage of measures taken and some of the announcements that the two executives have made in recent days regarding housing.

The last blog, already past midnight, was about the pacts, where there was a pulse between Collboni and Colau, with the first affirming that the stage of the mayoress is over and she – who bet to govern with the PSC and Esquerra – demanding that he clarify whether he ruled out a pact with Trias. Collboni avoided verbalizing it, but stressed that he will demand from the Junts candidate “loyalty to the State and the European institutions to overcome the Process” if he wants to agree.

Trias, on the other hand, did say that he could reach agreements with PSC or Esquerra, and he stressed that he has a free hand to do so because if a consultation was made with the Junts militancy about the pacts “it will not be binding”. Maragall, for his part, avoided talking about specific pacts and limited himself to erecting himself as a guarantee of a progressive government.