Jordi Turull Responds Indirectly to the Left's Motion of No Confidence Against Junts

Municipal politics is becoming a board where national political rivalries in Catalonia are played out. It happened in Ripoll, where Junts thwarted a last-minute no-confidence motion from the left against the mayor of Aliança Catalana, Sílvia Orriols. Now the left has retaliated with a no-confidence motion in Vilassar de Mar, where Junts had been governing in a minority since last January.

Some only want to see local motivations in the no-confidence motion presented in Vilassar de Mar. But it is evident that the rivalry between Junts, on one side, and PSC and ERC, on the other, is in the background.

Jordi Turull himself has made it evident with a tweet in which he indirectly attacks the parties that signed the motion. He claims they have acted "mixing water and oil," driven by "envies" and "resentments." Furthermore, he considers the pact in Vilassar to be between "strange bedfellows."

The secretary general of Junts has shown his support for the mayor of Vilassar, Laura Martínez. He has expressed confidence that in 2027 she will return to the mayor's office "with even more support at the polls."

What Happened in Vilassar de Mar

Junts won the 2023 municipal elections in Vilassar de Mar with nine councilors and formed an alliance with ERC to govern. The three republican councilors left the government in January. Junts not only remained in the minority but was also unable to pass the budget.

In this situation, Babord, the brand of CUP and Comuns in the municipality, promoted a no-confidence motion with five councilors. It received the support of the three PSC deputies and the three from ERC. A sufficient majority to oust Junts and form an alternative government.

ERC governed in Vilassar for the eight years prior to this term, then made a pact with Junts, then with a split from Junts, and now with PSC. Martínez has said that "the citizens punished them at the polls and will do so again."

"The people will decide in four years if this motion was a good idea," she concluded.

Junts Loses More Local Power

The no-confidence motion in Vilassar de Mar takes another mayoralty from Junts, which loses a bit more of the little territorial power it had left. The responsibility falls again on the secretary general, Jordi Turull. His erratic post-electoral pact strategy in 2023 isolated Junts and left it practically without mayoralties or provincial councils.

But this operation also has its national dimension, highlighting the isolation of Junts against the alliance of the left. ERC and PSC once again show their loyalty, this time with the complicity of CUP and Comuns.