Few doubt that the current mayor and candidate for the PSC in L’Hospitalet, Nuria Marinwill win by fourth time in a row the municipal elections in the second city of Catalonia. Even that he is going to revalidate the mayoralty. In any case, the question is whether it will succeed repeat the adjusted absolute majority (14 councilors out of 27) which he has enjoyed in the last four years.
Local elections will serve as thermometer to measure to what extent the management of the pandemic, the economical crisis derived from covid-19 and the war of Ukraine and the ‘Consell Esportiu Case’. To her credit, the mayoress flags the urban transformation and economic-social aspects of the city, on which he tends to stress that it has gone from being a suburb to a pole of economic attraction, from the great reform of Plaza Europa to the future biomedical pole.
Marín’s main persecutor is CKD. In a clear bid to capture disgruntled socialist votethe Republicans decided to remove Anthony GarciaRepublican leader until now in the consistory -movement that caused some tensions within the local section-, to put as a candidate Jaume Graellsthe former PSC councilor who denounced the ‘Sports Council case‘. “We will open an investigation process to see the accounts of the City Council and the urban records,” Graells promised at a recent electoral rally in allusion to the alleged irregularities.
Beyond the Sports Council, in the city with the two most densely populated kilometers in the European Union, ERC focuses its discourse on the change of urban model, policies aimed at migrants and the recovery of local heritage. Some demands for which they also bet from In Comú Podemwith the former president of the Center d’Estudis de L’Hospitalet and history teacher Manuel Dominguez ahead of the candidacy. In the case of the ‘communs’ they also share parallels with the Republicans in the choice of their candidate, given that they decided not to keep Ana Gonzalez in front of the group. González attends the ‘number 2’ elections on the Decideix L’Hospitalet list, a scenario that could affect the ‘communs’ electorally.
For his part, Citizens Bet once again on the former president of ‘Hospi’ and current leader of the group, Miguel Garciaa person known in the city, as his ‘last bullet’ to try to stop the general fall that the oranges face throughout Spanish territory and thus maintain the representation of the party in L’Hospitalet.
He too PP choose the same candidate again: Sonia Esplugas, who, with the drop of Ciutadans, aspires to recover the popular vote, a formation that became the second most voted force and added six councilors in 2011 -now Esplugas is the only representative of the formation-. Both parties center their discourse on the safety and cleanlinessmain concerns of the people of Hospital as reflected in the latest municipal Barometers.
In any case, although Marín does not reach an absolute majority -located in the 14 councillors-, arithmetic will hardly make it possible to constitute an alternative majority the PSC in a plenary session in which currently the main opposition party, CKD, it only adds five ediles.