People’s Party retakes its lone mayor's office of major Catalan cities

The People’s Party has retaken its only mayor's office among major Catalan cities, after Xavier García Albiol was appointed head of Badalona, the fourth-largest municipality in Catalonia. 

He will succeed the Socialist Àlex Pastor, who stepped down on April 22 after being arrested for driving drunk and skipping lockdown. 

The conservatives won only one mayoral post after the 2019 local election, as they did after the 2015 vote, but following failed talks among the left-wing parties in Badalona, García Albiol retook the post he already had held between 2011 and 2015. 

Albiol won the election, with 11 out of the 27 councilors at stake, and has been elected because the winner of the vote automatically becomes mayor if an alternative candidate does not reach the support of at least 14 out of the 27 councilors (the majority). 

The People’s Party now has two out of the 948 mayor’s offices, adding Badalona to the village of Pontons. 

Pastor steps down

Albiol will be the next mayor of Badalona after Àlex Pastor, who stepped down after being arrested on the evening of April 21 after being caught driving drunk in Barcelona's city center. He was provisionally released but is under investigation for reckless driving and assaulting police.

The officers arrested him for skipping the lockdown, driving under the effects of alcohol, and attacking an authority. 

"[Being mayor] has hurt my family and personal life. This has affected my health and my emotional state and has led me to do things that I regret," he said.