Sant Cugat del Vallès is beginning to shape its 2027 municipal election race, with parties in the city confirming or preparing their mayoral candidates. The official lists are not due until next spring, but several names are already on the table.
Junts per Sant Cugat has backed current mayor Josep Maria Vallès to lead its candidacy again. Vallès, who has been a councillor since 2019, said the party is the only political option that can guarantee the city’s model. Before entering politics, he worked for 26 years at TOT Sant Cugat, led Diari de Sant Cugat from 2000 until it closed in 2015, began his journalism career at Ràdio Sant Cugat, and has written several books.
ERC will be led by Bernat Picornell, the second deputy mayor. Picornell, a political scientist with master’s degrees in Cultural Management and Digital Journalism and Communication, has lived in Sant Cugat all his life and has been active in local groups including Castellers de Sant Cugat, La Unió Santcugatenca and the Sant Cugat Bastoners. He was a senator from 2016 to 2021 and chief of staff for the Presidency Department of the Generalitat from 2021 to 2023. The PSC has also chosen its candidate, with municipal group spokesperson Elena Vila selected unanimously by the party assembly. Vila has been a councillor, deputy mayor for Economic Promotion, Employment, Business and Trade, and since 2023 has been a senator and Secretary of Sports on the PSC’s national executive.
The CUP has ratified councillor Ariadna Sierra as its candidate for 2027. Sierra, a lifelong resident of Sant Cugat and a graduate in Social Education from UAB, says her priorities are housing, community, and public rights and services. The PP is also expected to keep Álvaro Benejam at the head of its list for a third consecutive time, although formal confirmation is still pending. Benejam, a lawyer who has lived in Sant Cugat for more than 20 years, returned the party to the council in 2023 with three councillors after earlier terms from 2011 to 2019.
Other names are still to be confirmed. Vox has not yet named its candidate, while Marcos Rodríguez is expected to repeat if there are no changes. Sant Cugat En Comú Podem is preparing another run with Ramon Gutiérrez, who returned to the council in 2023 after first serving in 2015. Outside the current council, PACMA is expected to field Dimitri Defranc again, Aliança Catalana is also expected to stand, and the Avenç Nacionalista platform is weighing its role in the race. For readers following local politics across Catalonia, our news coverage will continue to track the main developments.
Junts won the mayoralty in 2023 through a pact with ERC, after a term in which ERC, PSC and CUP had formed the government. As the 2027 contest takes shape, the city’s parties are moving early, but the full picture will only be clear once the official candidate lists are filed next spring.