Barcelona’s Junts branch is heading into its most contested mayoral primary since the party was formed, with four candidates now in the race to lead it into the 2027 municipal elections. The candidates are Jordi Martí Galbis, Pilar Calvo, Glòria Freixa and Jaume Alonso Cuevillas.

The vote matters in Barcelona because Junts is trying to keep its local project together while it prepares for the next city election. The party, led nationally by Carles Puigdemont and Jordi Turull, says internal plurality can still sit alongside strategic unity.

Jordi Martí Galbis, who leads the Junts municipal group in Barcelona, was Xavier Trias’s chosen political successor. He has acted as the party’s de facto opposition leader in the city for almost two years and is seen as the continuity candidate. His pitch focuses on security, housing and restoring Barcelona’s economic leadership.

Pilar Calvo, a Junts MP in the Spanish Congress and the party’s National Council president, says she wants to offer a more transversal option. She is from the Eixample and was number eight on Junts’ 2019 Barcelona municipal list. On social media, she said she was standing in the primaries with the hope that members would trust her to build, as a team, the future that Barcelona deserves.

Glòria Freixa, a member of the Catalan Parliament and first secretary of the chamber’s Bureau, has support inside the parliamentary group. She previously led Junts in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and is campaigning on renewal, with security, housing, mobility, commerce and the city’s identity at the centre of her platform. Jaume Alonso Cuevillas, a lawyer and former MP in both the Spanish Congress and the Catalan Parliament, joined the race late and says the primaries should be about challenging Jaume Collboni for the mayoralty, not about settling internal power struggles.

Members will vote on 20 and 21 June. Each candidate needs at least 20% of membership endorsements to become the official candidate. The result will shape Junts’ strategy as it tries to win back Barcelona’s mayoralty from the Socialist Party.

For more Barcelona politics coverage, see our Community and Sport pages.