Alternative-left coalition to win in Barcelona with 10-12 seats, while incumbent CiU Mayor to get 9-11 seats, according to exit polls

Barcelona (ACN).- There may be a major change in the Catalan capital's City Council according to an exit poll released by the Catalan Public Television Broadcaster. The alternative left coalition Barcelona en Comú may have won this Sunday's municipal elections with between 10-12 seats but looks to be far from the 21-seat absolute majority. The centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU, which holds the mayoral office, is set to go from 14 to 9-11 seats. Therefore, the exit polls point towards a change in Mayor but the results are not clear enough and it in fact may be a dead heat between the CiU and Barcelona en Comú. The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and the People's Party (PP) are forecast to lose many seats, going from 11 and 9 seats respectively to 4 or 5 each. Furthermore, the anti-Catalan nationalism party Ciutadans (C's) looks set to enter the City Council for the first time and obtain also 4 or 5 seats. As well as this, two pro-independence parties would also increase their results, if the exit polls are accurate. The left-wing Catalan independence party ERC could go from 2 to 3/4 seats, while the radical independence and alternative left party CUP may enter the City Council for the first time, with 3 or 4 seats. Pro-independence parties, appear to have resisted and may have even increased their number of seats in several important city councils.

In the other capital cities of the 4 Catalan provinces, the exit polls suggest that traditional parties are to lose electoral support but that the 3 incumbent mayors of Tarragona, Girona and Lleida would weather the storm. In addition, in the 3 City Councils new parties would win seats for the first time. In Tarragona, the PSC would go from 12 to 9-11 seats; the CiU would go from 7 to 4/5; the PP, from 7 to 4; C's would enter the City Council for the first time with 3/4 seats; the CUP would obtain 2/3 representatives, the same as the ERC, while the ICV-EUiA may lose its single seat.

In Girona, the CiU may resist and obtain 9 or 10 seats (it currently has 10 representatives in the City Council). According to the exit polls, the CUP would go from 3 to 5-6 seats; the ERC would gain 4-5 seats, (currently it has 0 representatives); the PSC would drop from 7 to 3-4 representatives; the PP would get 2-3 representatives (currently it holds 3 seats); and the C's may enter the City Council as the exit polls predict they may get 1 seat.

Finally, in Lleida, the PSC incumbent Mayor may lose his absolute majority and drop from 15 to 8-10 seats. The CiU would also drop from 6 seats to 4 or 5; the PP would go from 6 to 4-5 seats as well; the ERC would return to the City Council with 3-4 representatives; and the C's would hold seats for the first time, with 2-3 representatives, as would the CUP, which would obtain the same number of seats.