Video: @catalunyaac, @oriolges, @orriolsripoll / IG
Sílvia Cubo unveiled as lead candidate
On Thursday evening, Aliança Catalana formally presented Sílvia Cubo Pons as its lead candidate for the 2027 Manresa municipal elections at the Wow nightclub in the Trullols district. According to organisers, more than 500 people attended the event, which marked the official launch of the party’s campaign in the Bages capital. Cubo, born in Manresa in 1979, holds a doctorate in Law, Economics and Business from the University of Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya (UVic-UCC), where she earned the first Industrial Doctorate in Customer Experience (CX) with an Excellent Cum Laude distinction. She has held leadership roles in business organisations, including vice-president of the Manresa Chamber of Commerce and president of the Independent Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Catalonia in Tarragona (AIJECT).
Party leaders rally support
Sílvia Orriols, mayor of Ripoll and parliamentary representative of Aliança Catalana, closed the event with a fiery speech praising Cubo’s ‘courage’ amid what she described as ongoing stigmatisation and aggression against the party. Orriols, who leads the mixed parliamentary group in the Catalan legislature, is also president of Aliança Catalana. Imma Nadal, the party’s regional president in Bages and interim president in Berguedà, highlighted the party’s growth from a dozen members in 2023 to 300 today. She introduced the full list of candidates for central Catalonia, with Cubo flanked on stage by Oriol Gès, who was announced as the second candidate on the Manresa list. Gès, the party’s secretary of organisation and finance, stated that the attack earlier that morning, when paint was thrown at the venue’s façade, would not deter them. He described it as an act by ‘far-left totalitarianism’ and vowed the party would not kneel.
Policy pledges and political rhetoric
Cubo described Manresa as 'grey, sad, tired and afraid' and called for residents to 'live in peace again'. She claimed that 'the capacity to absorb is not infinite' and stated that 'Islam is incompatible with Western values'. Her campaign slogan, 'Salvem Manresa' (Let’s Save Manresa), was met with applause. She pledged to eliminate what she called 'absurd complications', specifically referencing the city’s closed-container waste system. Gès echoed this, promising lower taxes, reduced fiscal pressure, the abolition of the waste tax surcharge, more neighbourhood police presence, and stricter control over the municipal register (padró) to combat illegal registrations, immigration and squatting. He cited official figures indicating that 22% of Manresa’s population, around 18,000 people, are foreign-born, with 40% from Morocco (over 7,000). He referred to this as a 'massive Islamist invasion' and linked it to rising crime, including the stabbing of Carles Vilajosana.
"The situation is catastrophic,"
said Gès, who also criticised the opening of two mosques during the current mayor Marc Aloy’s term, adding that Aloy 'should be ashamed'. Jordi Coma, legal advisor to Aliança Catalana in parliament, attacked Aloy and local leaders from ERC, Junts and the Nationalist Group, saying they had 'impoverished and diminished' Manresa. He claimed Cubo outshines them, saying, 'They don’t even reach her shoe heel. She will change the rules of the game.'
Security presence and vandalism
A significant deployment of Mossos d'Esquadra was present outside the venue following the early-morning vandalism. Although the black-painted façade had been partially cleaned, traces of the paint attack remained visible. The event concluded with all candidates and officials on stage for photographs, many with Orriols and Cubo, who described the evening as her first real 'political baptism by fire'.
Primary sources: ajuntament.barcelona.cat. Reported by naciodigital.cat, regio7.cat, Parlament de Catalunya, GIRONA NOTÍCIES, Sector ambiental i energètic, Regió 7.
