BarcelonaJaume Guardiola has defeated Rosa Cañadas in the elections of the Cercle d’Economia, the first to be held in this influential Barcelona entity.
The former director of Banco Sabadell has won widely by obtaining 634 votes, for the 243 of Cañadas. This means that the results of when the two candidates presented the signatures of the partners that allowed them to run in the elections have practically been repeated. Guardiola gathered 601 signatures, and Cañadas 216, which already suggested that the first had to win, as has happened.
During his post-victory speech, Guardiola stated that “the Circle has a very important role in Catalan society”: In his opinion, “this country is in a moment of recovery and the Circle has the capacity to contribute to this straightening: we will do our best to help. “
The new president of the Circle has also stated that the high turnout (76% of a census of 1,200 members) shows “how alive” an institution is that has often been said to be in low hours.
Guardiola closed his speech by apologizing: “This long electoral process has forced us to have a lot of opinions on many issues, but the Circle is an institution that has a collective opinion,” he said. In his opinion, the importance of the opinions of the Circle lies precisely in the negotiation and transaction between the members of the board of directors. For her part, Rosa Cañadas, considered that her contribution was mainly to provoke a debate of ideas around the Circle, and encouraged the winner to take into account some of the proposals he has raised during the last weeks.
Acknowledgments from Faus
The outgoing president, Javier Faus, also made an intervention that he used to vindicate his mandate and, at the same time, sent thanks to those who have followed him in his way of doing “so hard”.
The passage of Faus through the presidency has generated controversy at times. In a way, the election has ended up being a plebiscite on his tenure. For the last three years, the outgoing president has made an electroshock in the Circle, promoting radical changes in the board of directors and completely reviewing the annual meeting of the entity, which now takes place in Barcelona and has had the participation of personalities such as King Philip VI, Mario Draghi or Ursula von der Leyen.
Along the way, however, Faus stepped on several louse eyes and caused an internal schism, which was settled for example with the departure of the general manager. This clash surely explains why, finally, the Circle has found itself holding an election with two candidates, thus breaking the custom of choosing presidents by consensus.
Faus, by the way, has also asked Guardiola to continue pushing for the expansion of El Prat airport. “He’s pending for your term,” he told her.
Long count
The count has been longer than expected due to the difficulties of counting the delegated vote (members who did not want or could not vote in person had the right to delegate it). In fact, the majority of votes (63%) were cast by this procedure.
During the campaign the two candidates have waved the flag of renewal, although Guardiola has admitted without mania the label of continuist. In fact, he himself was on the board that has been there until now, and incorporated into his team several people who were already with Javier Faus.
Overall the campaign has had awkward moments for the Circle, but nothing that has been insurmountable. In fact, both Guardiola and Cañadas have said in recent weeks that there was no risk of fracture. A wish also expressed by Salvador Alemany, former president of the institution and chairman of the electoral board who oversaw the entire electoral process.