The opposition of Badalona puts an end to the mayor of Albiol while negotiating the new government

The second stage of Xavier Garcia Albiol as mayor of Badalona It will come to an end on November 8, but the ‘Albiol phenomenon’ continues. The motion of censure to snatch the rod from him he will prosper for a agreement of all opposition, to five bands, after uncovering the ‘Pandora Papers’ that reveal that he received a general power of attorney from a company in Belize, a small tax haven. The popular refuses to resign and, after verifying that he will be left without the command of the consistory, he has already entered the campaign, with his eyes fixed on the 2023 elections. The PP is thus left without its star bastion in Catalonia, but he is already fighting to get it back and the management confirms Albiol as a candidate.

Not only does Albiol think about the polls – this Thursday he exhibited a survey that grants him an absolute majority – but groups outside the current governing board also play their cards so that the decisions they make now do not take their toll on them in a year and a half . The PSC finally chose to take a step forward and nominate its leader Ruben Guijarro as mayor, trying to exhibit command capacity and a new management. The rest of the forces bought his candidacy without nuances, being aware of the atomization that reigns in Badalona: the PP has 11 councilors; the PSC, six councilors; Guanyem Badalona En Comú, four; ERC, three; Badalona En Comú Podem, two; and Junts, one.

Hence the complex equation to form a new governmental structure alternative. In the first meetings, the opposition conspired to make the government unitary – all except the PP – but soon after, differences began to emerge that seemed buried. Nobody wanted to talk about vetoes, to avoid the reissue of denials that would ruin the operation, but they did end up appearing and unleashing the refusal of Guanyem Badalona En Comú to enter the government, which will remain in the minority (predictably configured by PSC and Badalona En Comú) with the mission of carrying out the municipal budgets for which Guanyem reaches out from the new opposition.

Open wounds

The differences that separate the PSC and Guanyem date back to June 2018, when the Socialists led a motion of no confidence against the then mayor Dolors Sabater (We win). Alex Pastor (PSC) took over the leadership of the City Council thanks to the support of the PP. Just a year later, after the municipal elections of 2019, the opposition added to prevent Albiol from taking over the stick and Pastor became mayor. But, in April 2020, after being arrested driving drunk in full confinement, a new gap opened between partners.

The agreement between Guanyem and the PSC to share the mayoralty seemed done, but at the last moment everything was cut short due to differences in the division of the term of office. Neither of them reached the 14 essential votes and Albiol recovered the stick. The failure of the operation led to cross reproaches and the 2018 wounds were reopened. A new negotiation process has been enough to show that the misgivings between PSC and Guanyem have not yet finished healing.

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Meanwhile, Albiol continues with his walks, showing himself supported by some neighbors, in the neighborhoods of La Salut, Center, Montigalà and Llefià and, through social networks, he continues to charge against the opposition because “Badalona returns to gray and chaos & rdquor ;. “We will see each other in the municipal elections of 2023 & rdquor ;, he emphasizes in another point, aware of having won three consecutive municipal elections. The leadership of the PP in Catalonia supports its mayor and considers that his explanations are “sufficient”. “He will run again and win again”, zanjan.