Landslide victory for pro-independence forces across the heart of Catalonia

BarcelonaThe main towns of the central region of Catalonia have traditionally shown greater support for Catalonia’s independence than the rest of the nation, but following the independence boom of 2012, this trait has become even more marked. CiU, ERC, and the CUP will dominate the leading positions in most towns across the heart of the nation, while unionist forces have lost much of the little strength that they had.

Berga is a clear example of this trend, as shown by the victory of the CUP, with more votes than CiU (only 58 votes separated them), which means that they will hold the mayoralty, although they are tied with 6 council members each. ERC, which did not have any seats, will return to City Hall thanks to the PSC councilors who left their party and ran under the ERC banner. The new PSC had to search for a candidate in the neighboring town of Avià, and managed to keep one of their 4 representatives.

In Vic these three political forces also won the majority of votes and council members, 18 of the 21 on the council. CiU won again, in spite of the retirement of the charismatic Josep Maria Vila d´Abadal, and Anna Erra won one council member more than they had. ERC goes up from 2 to 5, and the CUP from 2 to 4. On the other hand, Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC) will disappear from City Hall, although former leader Josep Anglada won´t, as he will keep his seat with his new political creation: Plataforma Vigatana.

Manresa finds itself in a similar situation, where these three forces also took the first three positions. In the case of the capital of Bages, the party with the most votes is also CiU, with Valentí Junyent winning again, but with two council members less than in 2011. The moral victory, however, goes to runner-up Pere Culell, the leader of ERC, which went from 3 to 7 councilors. The third most voted party is the CUP, which adds a councilor, bringing their total to 3. The PP and PxC will disappear from the municipal map, Ciutadans gets in with 2 councilors, and Democràcia Municipal --the affiliate of Podemos in Manresa-- debuts with 1 councilor.

Absolute majority for ERC in Solsona

In Solsona, the scheme of three pro-independence forces at the top repeats, but in this case ERC is the party with the most votes, as it was in 2011. ERC representative David Rodriguez won absolute majority once again, with 7 councilors, whereas CiU --in spite of losing two-- will continue as the second force on the council. Those two councilors lost by CiU in the capital of the Solsonès were picked up bythe CUP, which enters the City Council for the first time. The PSC managed to keep its only councilor from four years ago.

The only important city in central Catalonia that does not have CiU, ERC, and the CUP as the three highest vote-getters is Igualada, but by a narrow margin. In the capital of Anoia, CiU won again thanks to the leadership of the young Marc Castells, and widened its majority with one more councilor, with which it reached 11 and an absolute majority. The second force, far behind CiU, is ERC-- CiU’s coalition partner during the last term--, which gained one more representative for a total of 3. In Igualada, however, the third force is the PSC, which lost momentum and dropped from 5 to 3 councilors. Behind them, the CUP will debut in Igualada with two representatives, and is the fourth force. Trailing behind, with one councilor, are Decidim Igualada, a group associated with ICV, which keeps the one seat it had, and the PP, which lost one of its two representatives.

In Gironella, CiU (8) and ERC (3) grabbed all 11 council seats, while in Cardona ERC won again, up one seat from 6 to 7, in spite of the reduction in the number of council seats from 13 to 11. In Moià, ERC’s Dionís Guiteras won big with 10 councilors, 4 more than he had.

The keys

1. CiU, ERC, and the CUP obtained the majority of votes in the overwhelming majority of City Halls in the heart of Catalonia, and strengthened the pro-independence character of this part of the country. Their rise is highlighted by the decline of the PSC, which has suffered major setbacks, and the PP, which has almost disappeared from these towns.

2. Two absolute majorities. Igualada will have a stronger mayor than before: CiU’s Marc Castells, who went from 10 to 11 council members. And in Solsona, ERC, with David Rodriguez, continues as the most voted party with a majority of councilors, followed by CiU and the CUP.

3. The emergence of the CUP in Berga, a regional capital, is remarkable. They doubled their seats to 6, in a tie with CiU, which lost three councilors following the farewell of Juli Gendrau, the town’s mayor in recent years.