ERC and PSC fight for electoral leadership in Barcelona's red belt

The mayor of ERC for Barcelona, Ernest Maragall, upon his arrival at the central rally of the party in Cornellà.Albert Garcia

The forecasts of rain tarnished this Saturday one of the moments that had generated more expectation in this campaign. The central rally of Esquerra in Santa Coloma de Gramenet was called to stage the bet of the Republicans for the hand-to-hand with the Socialists for hegemony in the so-called red belt of Barcelona. The event was finally done indoors, in Cornellà de Llobregat. In both cities the PSC chains historic absolute majorities and that immobility focused the attack. ERC sees socialist mayors as a problem while for the PSC they are a value: its pre-campaign began with a joint photo.

"There is no right that the PSOE has turned our cities into another farmhouse. It's worth of young men!" said Gabriel Rufián, ERC spokesman in Congress and mayor of Santa Coloma. Only the Republicans, he added, are in a position to "put the absolute majority of speculation and clientelism," he noted in reference to the situation of Santa Coloma, governed by Núria Parlon.

That municipality and Cornellà itself, governed since 1987 by the Socialists, are examples of socialist hegemony in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. There he resisted at the polls even after the debacle that the Socialists experienced after the failure of the second tripartite (2006-2011). The polls do not seem to appreciate that in those places the political color can change although the strategy of ERC to make itself visible in that terrain traditionally hostile to independence theses has worked.

In the municipal elections of 2019, the party led by Oriol Junqueras achieved 18% of the vote in the 36 municipalities of the Metropolitan Area, being second force after the PSC (25%). Both thus improved their figures compared to those of 2011, where the decline of the convergent environment began. The comparison with the results of a decade ago is even more revealing: Esquerra had 5% of the vote and the Socialists, 38%.

The pending issue continues to be to assault the mayoralties, a terrain in which the PSC wins with 19 versus four Republicans. ERC caressed the one in the Catalan capital four years ago by achieving a historic result and being the most voted force. Manuel Valls' support for Ada Colau buried that possibility. This time the polls deflate his chances of repeating that victory and a more modest result would take its toll on the final weight of the formation in the metropolitan area.

That it is the PSC, by any means, who achieves the mayor's office is a new objective of ERC. Hence, this Saturday the mayor for Barcelona, Ernest Maragall, took the opportunity to warn of the "state operation" in favor of Collboni and asked Xavier Trias not to be the "necessary accomplice". The Vice President of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, also referred yesterday to the role of the PP in a possible post-electoral pact. At an event in Barcelona, he warned that Alberto Núñez Feijóo would give his votes to an alliance of the PSC and Trias if it means evicting Colau.

The possibility of imposing itself, in the words of Maragall, "the most rancid sociovergence" is seen by ERC as the response of the powers that be to the consolidation of the party in the centrality of Catalan politics. President Pere Aragonès vindicated his way of governing against that of those who "divided the country like a cake between reds and blues." Junqueras was in charge of putting his finger on the wound of corruption, pointing out as one of its causes the distribution of power between socialists and convergents in democracy.

Nobody expects in ERC that Rufián beats Parlon on 26-M. The number two of the formation, Marta Rovira, accepted in a video that the candidacy was the way to show that she is serious about her commitment to conquer the formerly called red belt, where thousands of immigrants from the rest of Spain arrived in the 50s and 60s. Ruffian does not speak to them, but to his children and grandchildren.

The PSC sees it possible to improve its 2019 results. ERC's decision to bet heavily on Santa Coloma also implies that the result there is the most interesting. Sources of the socialist leadership believe that Rufián has made "the circus" they expected and that the interest in his candidacy has been more media than citizen. Even if the current result improves (9.9% of the vote, three seats) it will not make a dent in Parlon (50%, 17).

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