Beyond the well-known faces of the world of politics, the municipal elections on May 28 in Catalonia will put an entourage of famous or eccentric personalities who have dared to enter electoral lists, both in secondary positions and in the first positions.
These are some of the most curious cases:
Toribio, the porn actor who wants to be mayor of Sant Adrià
One of the most eclectic candidates in these elections is the security guard, former ‘stripper’ and porn actor Antonio Toribio, who heads the CRYSOL party list (acronym for Changes, Responses and Solutions) in Sant Adrià de Besòs (Barcelona).
Toribio, according to a video posted on the internet, is committed to exploiting the urban and tourist “potential” of Sant Adrià, “to create a project based on sport” so that young people get away from “the streets and crime” and “to recover the activities that were carried out for the ‘infants’ of the city”.
The drummer of Els Pets, mayor of ERC in Constantí
Also the drummer of the catalan rock group ‘Els Pets’, Joan Reig, He has decided to take a step forward and lead the ERC candidacy in Constantí (Tarragona), his hometown, although he is running as an independent.
Reig, who has always been openly pro-independence, already touched the political arena of Constantí in the last municipal elections, when he was the first alternate of the Republicans, and in 2015, by occupying seventh place on the list.
The referee who sued for the ‘Negreira case’
Some familiar faces of the sport also occupy positions in the electoral lists; one of the most relevant is that of the arbitrator who has filed a complaint for the ‘Negreira case’, Xavier Estrada Fernandez, which will be number five on the ERC list for Lleida, headed by the current mayor of the city, Miquel Pueyo.
Also in Lleida, Junts has scored a goal with the signing of former basketball player Sergi Grimau, the eldest of the three basketball brothers, who came to the city in 1999 to compete with Caprabo Lleida and who will occupy fifth position on the list .
In Girona, the former soccer player Angel Martinez, who played with RCD Espanyol between 2005 and 2011 and with teams from the second English category, will repeat in the PSC candidacy headed by the deputy in Parliament Silvia Paneque, this time number six.
The Meteorologist’s Son
These elections also have a seat reserved for a ‘nepo baby’ (son of a celebrity who breaks into the public scene): Pol Molina, son of the TV3 meteorologist Tomas Molina, will be presented as number 22 of ERC in Badalona (Barcelona).
Born in 1998, Pol Molina is a physicist, PhD student at the Polytechnic University of Valencia and spokesman for the erc youths, although he points out that he is a person “of esplai” (the traditional leisure education centers in Catalonia), since his beginnings in the associative world go back to the Aspirantat de Sant Josep, in Badalona.
actress and singer-songwriter
The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, has incorporated the actress into symbolic positions on its list vicky pena -daughter of the also interpreter Montserrat Carulla and couple of the director Mario Gas-, as number 39, and to the singer-songwriter Quico Pi de la Serra, member of the now extinct Nova Cançó group ‘Els Setze Jutges’, as number 40.
Both Peña and Pi de la Serra have already accompanied Colau on various occasions -both held those same positions in 2019-, but the one who will make her electoral debut on 28M will be the sex worker and spokesperson for the OTRAS Union, Conxa Borrell, which is part of the list of the mayor of Citizens Anna Grau.
Carla Simón: one step forward, one step back
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A curious case is that of the film director and screenwriter Carla Simon, winner of the 2022 Berlinale Golden Bear with “Alcarràs”, which announced its presence in the Junts list in Les Planes d’Hostoles (Girona) as number 10 in mid-April, but a week later backed out due to the received pressure.
Simón stressed his independent status from day one and, despite having resigned, he has maintained his support for together in Les Planes d’Hostoles.