Catalan News catalannews Barcelona. First published: June 21, PM. Latest update: June 21, PM. Catalans will get to choose between 19 candidacies for the July 23 Spanish snap election , according to the lists published on Wednesday by the Spanish official gazette BOE.
Of these, 13 groups present candidates across the four Catalan constituencies: Lleida, Tarragona, Girona, and Barcelona. All these parties have already appointed their top names, either with an open vote among party members or just proposing a specific person to be ratified as the party's leader in the election.
Many have already been in the job before and were part of the last Congress. Here's a list of the frontrunners in the Barcelona constituency for the political forces with representatives in the lower house and other relevant candidates:.
Running in Barcelona for the Socialists, Meritxell Batet was the Congress' speaker during the past four years. He is currently the spokesperson for the party in Congress and is very vocal on Twitter. The party proposed him for the high chamber after a deal with Trias per Barcelona group to form a coalition government in Barcelona's city council failed as Socialist Jaume Collboni was elected mayor in a last-minute plot twist.
She has been very outspoken in favor of independence during her time in office, representing the party founded by former president Carles Puigdemont's party, Junts. Pilar Calvo, who had been a sports journalist for decades, and Eduard Pujol, who had been suspended as a Junts member after a possible sexual harassment case but then clear of all allegations, will be number 2 and 3 in the Barcelona constituency. During the last few years, Ferran Bel led this party in Congress β while they no longer have MPs in Parliament, they aim to keep seats in Madrid.
