Spanish snap election: who's running in Catalonia for July 23 vote

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:

Socialists - Meritxell Batet

Running in Barcelona for the Socialists, Meritxell Batet was the Congress' speaker during the past four years. Before that, the candidate was the territorial policies minister in the Spanish government under the leadership of Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, who is also a candidate trying to remain in the post.

Accompanying Batet, there will be Spanish ministers Miquel Iceta and Raquel Sánchez, both members of the Catalan Socialists.

Esquerra Republicana - Gabriel Rufián

MP for pro-independence Esquerra Republicana, Gabriel Rufián, has been in the role since 2016. He is currently the spokesperson for the party in Congress and is very vocal on Twitter. The candidate was running for Santa Coloma de Gramenet mayor in the last local election, but he came second behind Socialist Núria Parlon.

While Rufián runs for Congress, Esquerra chose Ernest Maragall to run for Senate. 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.

Junts - Míriam Nogueras

Leader of the pro-independence Junts party Míriam Nogueras has been a member of the Spanish Congress since 2016. 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.

PDeCAT - Roger Montañola

Roger Montañola takes over PDeCAT, a liberal party that is one of the successors of old Convergència i Unió (CiU), which ruled for several years in Catalonia. Montañola was already an MP in the Catalan parliament for CiU. During the last few years, Ferran Bel led this party in Congress – while they no longer have MPs in Parliament, they aim to keep seats in Madrid.

Vox - Juan José Aizcorbe Torra

Far-right Vox is running in Catalonia, with Juan José Aizcorbe Torra as the first name in its Barcelona candidacy. The lawyer who has already served as MP in Congress, will be accompanied by Carina Mejías, a former Ciudadanos and People's Party MP in the Catalan parliament. She had also ran for Barcelona mayor with Ciudadanos.

CUP - Albert Botran

Far-left CUP MP Albert Botran will run again for Congress on July 23 in Barcelona. He has also been part of the Catalan parliament, and he will be accompanied by Mireia Vehí, another CUP major figure. While Botran is the top person on CUP's Catalan capital ballots, Vehí will be in Girona. The party decided to be part of the election after a vote among members.

Sumar - Aina Vidal

Spanish minister and vice president Yolanda Díaz recently launched Sumar, an anti-austerity party that saw several other left-wing groups getting on board the project. Díaz was part of En Común, the Galician anti-austerity party is sibling of Catalonia's En Comú Podem, who also joined the formation with Aina Vidal running in Barcelona for the July 23 snap election.

Former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau will be symbolically closing the list of party members running for the election.

People's Party - Nacho Martín Blanco

One of the most successful parties in Congress, if polls are right, could be the conservative People's Party. In Catalonia, former Ciudadanos parliament spokesperson Nacho Martin Blanco will be the face of the party that will try to rule Spain with Alberto Núñez Feijóo as the potential future PM.