Jordi Martí, the president of Junts in Barcelona City Council, has informed the party leadership of his desire to be the mayoral candidate for the city in the municipal elections scheduled for 2027. Several media outlets reported the news today, and sources familiar with the situation confirmed it to ACN.
Martí plans to stand in a primary election to head the Junts list in Barcelona. Josep Rius, a councillor and party spokesperson in the city, is also expected to participate. Recently, lawyer and former MP Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas also put himself forward as a possible candidate to represent the party in Barcelona.
Martí's candidacy has majority support from the Barcelona federation and the sector of the party more aligned with the former Convergència. He comes from the Young Nationalists of Catalonia and has the backing of former mayor Xavier Trias, who led the Junts list in the last municipal elections in 2023.
Rius, on the other hand, is a trusted leader of Carles Puigdemont and has the endorsement of the party's more pro-independence sector, which is distant from the structures inherited from the PDECat and Convergència Democràtica. Cuevillas, who personally informed Puigdemont of his availability to lead the Barcelona candidacy, presents himself as a third way to avoid a clash between these two factions.
Candidate Selection Process
The designation of the candidate falls to Barcelona's territorial municipal commission. This body can directly proclaim a candidate, propose one for ratification in an assembly, or open primaries among aspirants who have sufficient support. The party leadership has guaranteed that the chosen candidate will be endorsed by members in a vote. The general secretary, Jordi Turull, has promised that the announcement will be made before the summer.
