Abdul Momin was born in Bangladesh 42 years ago, although he has been living in the Barcelona neighborhood of Raval for 20 years where he works as a kitchen assistant in a “Spanish food” restaurant. It has been a year since he obtained nationality and this Sunday he voted for the first time. “I have been very excited to be able to choose those who are going to govern me,” he admits after exercising his right. Momin lives in one of the most humble and abstentionist areas of Barcelona. The Ciutat Vella district – to which the Raval, Barceloneta, Gòtic and Sant Pere i Santa Caterina neighborhoods belong – is one of those with the least votes and where many of the city’s poorest residents settle. Just on the other side of the scale, in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, is where the largest current accounts are concentrated and, precisely, the neighbors who most participate in the elections. EL PAÍS visited, on the morning of this election Sunday, the schools in the poorest and richest areas of the city.
At two in the afternoon, the Government made public the first participation data. At that time, 27.78% of Barcelona residents had voted (three years ago, at the same time, 22.6% had voted). In Sarrià-Sant Gervasi the turnout at 2:00 p.m. this Sunday was 27.5%, while in Ciutat Vella it was 20.8%. It’s not the only difference. The life expectancy of the residents of Barceloneta is 80.5 years while that of Sant Gervasi is 86.3 years.
At the Mediterrània School in Barceloneta, at nine in the morning, everything was ready. Neighbors eager to vote soon began to arrive. One of those who did it first is Leocadia Montes, the emblematic owner of Bar Leo. Accompanied by one of her children, she hurries to exercise her right while a neighbor talks to her and resorts to the classic: “Whoever gets up early, God helps him.” Carmen Torres remembers the police charges that occurred in this school during the independence referendum on October 1, 2017. “Years have passed and the neighborhood is getting worse and worse. Let’s see if Puigdemont comes and fixes it,” Torres wishes. Regarding the current mayor, Jaume Collboni (PSC), he maintains that he does not want to “even hear about it.”
Very close to the Mediterrània school is the Alexandre Galí school. There Salva works as controller of the PSC. In other elections he played the same role, but for ERC. In fact, he was one of the great defenders of the independence referendum in the Barceloneta neighborhood and even demonstrated against the Colau-Collboni coalition, but “things change,” he says. Next to him, an elderly woman acts as Vox’s representative. “How beautiful this school next to the sea. I come from Castilla to work as an auditor,” she warns. At Alexandre Galí, voters arrive in dribs and drabs. An image similar to that of the Massana school in the El Raval neighborhood, just behind the Boqueria market. There, voting becomes a real bore for the members of the polling stations who do not know where to look due to the lack of neighbors willing to vote.
In the small school of Casal del Barri del Raval, the welcome is given by two Vox interveners originally from Guinea. “We live in Gòtic and we want to give our support to democracy,” says one of them when asked by EL PAÍS. In the end, they are the ones who direct the voters a little at the entrance to this polling station. Inside there are more interveners than members of the tables. The conversation between the interveners of the PSC, PP and ERC is fun and they know each other from other elections. “Here people vote little,” laments Joan Domínguez, the PSC representative. In fact, Abdul Momin – the cook from Bangladesh with whom this chronicle begins – is one of the few who come to vote.
What affects the most is what happens closest. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe
Eixample was traditionally an upper-middle class district, but in recent years it has become basically a high-income area. At two in the afternoon, more than 28% of the census had voted. One of the main schools in this district is at the headquarters of the University of Barcelona, where there has been no interference between the electoral polls and the student camp demanding the end of Israel’s attack on Gaza. Rosa Lluch, the daughter of Ernest Lluch, works there as auditor of the Comuns. This position does not prevent him from greeting the leader of Ciudadanos, Carlos Carrizosa, who has decided, after voting, to greet the largest number of interveners of the orange formation in an election that they know is life or death. Lluch also greets the leader of his party, Jaume Asens, in one of the most stately lobbies of these elections.
Lluch will not be the only renowned intervener of these elections. At the Augusta school in Sant Gervasi, the popular representative in Congress Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo acts as a representative. In that electoral college the atmosphere is different. It is rare to see someone vote alone and there are many families who, dressed as Sunday, come to the polls. Mercè is one of the few who goes alone to the electoral appointment: “In the municipal elections I had to be at a table and on October 1 [de 2017] The police beat me. You can imagine that since then I have not missed an election and you can imagine who I vote for,” maintains the woman, in one of the neighborhoods that have become a Junts fiefdom.
Sant Cugat del Vallés votes “business as usual” disenchanted
Amparo Perez
The residents of Sant Cugat have slightly modified their routine: between the coffee in the Plaza de Lluis Millet and the walk on the day of rest, they had to go to vote. The elders have been in charge of opening the ballot boxes. “We were very clear, as always, but this year we remain firmer than ever,” emphasize Gerard (70 years old) and Remei (68), who accompanied their 97-year-old father to the polls at the Center d’Art Maristany. .
During the early hours of this Sunday morning, walkers, wheelchairs and motorized vehicles with reduced mobility have taken to the streets of the third richest city in Catalonia. At 89 years old, Daniel holds the ballot in one hand and with the other he leans on his cane: “We vote as usual because we have the same problem as always. We Catalans are very hard-working people, we have had a magnificent textile industry in this area. We have a lot of potential, but outside leaders don’t let us progress,” he criticizes. His friend Pedro (84 years old) supports him: “We’ve been the same all our lives. The worst thing is that there is no complete idea, a structural plan, but there are many divergences of opinion and that prevents us from moving forward. We need leaders who stand up and say this is it,” he adds.
In a municipality where the Catalan nationalist party Convergencia i Unió has governed for almost 30 years – now under the mandate of Junts per Catalunya – the “same old vote” does not motivate the new generations. Anna (30 years old) and Andrea (30 years old) have taken advantage of the way to the polling station to walk their pets. The two claim to be “very disenchanted” with politics: “I ended up voting for the usual party. I haven’t even bothered to read the electoral programs as I usually do because I’m tired of the disappointment of voting and seeing that it serves absolutely no purpose,” Andrea stresses. Both believe that the political class should put speeches aside and focus on social needs, especially housing. “We have a good salary, above the average for our age, and soon we will have to leave the city where we were born, it’s crazy,” they comment on the price of rent because buying, they can’t even consider it. .
Social needs are also a priority when deciding Laura’s vote (23 years old): “I always opt for parties that care about the Catalans, their language and their culture, but that do not leave aside other issues such as the war in Gaza.” The position on the conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinian people has been “determining” for María (21 years old). “I don’t care about the political proposals because right now what worries me most is what is happening in Gaza. Depending on each party’s position, I will decide who to vote for,” he points out.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#poor #rich #neighborhoods #Barcelona #vote