Frente Amplio picks Ada Colau as candidate for Spain's November 29 election

Frente Amplio picks Ada Colau as candidate for Spain's November 29 election

Ada Colau is back in the political spotlight. The left-wing coalition Frente Amplio has agreed to put her forward as its candidate for the November 29 election, according to a tweet by Cadena SER that sparked the debate. The news has landed like a bucket of cold water on those who blame her for leaving Barcelona in a mess, judging by the comments. Eight years of city government add up to a lot, and not all of it good, they argue.

The record the opposition keeps citing

Colau's critics were quick to do the math. During her time in office, rents rose by 55%, second-hand housing got 23% more expensive, reported petty theft climbed by nearly 55% and violent robberies also rebounded, according to a calculation circulating in the debate. For her detractors, it is proof that the former mayor failed to manage the city or her own finances. "She can't even afford her own rent", reads one comment that sums up the general tone.

The charge of financial carelessness is mixed with mockery. Some recall that years ago she campaigned alongside a property businessman, a usurious multi-landlord, to use the expression, and posed for photos with an iPhone. Ideological consistency, they suggest, is conspicuously absent.

The argument that there is no better option

Against the outright rejection, another camp argues that Frente Amplio had no one better. After Rufián's snub — he would reportedly have preferred to secure his seat in the Senate — the coalition was left without heavyweights. Colau, with her media pull, would be the only asset capable of mobilising a scattered electorate. Overtaking SALF is presented as the realistic goal, not victory.

The divide is total. Some see in her the communist who turned Barcelona into Kinshasa, exaggeration included. Others simply shrug: "And why not?", they write. That's democracy for you, they add wryly.

A party with nothing to lose

The prevailing feeling is that Frente Amplio is an experiment with little to lose. Grey-haired men represented, some joke, to underline the lack of renewal. An electoral thrashing is taken for granted in many quarters. Yet nobody lifts a finger to stop it. The coalition is heading towards November 29 on its own, with Colau as its only banner and an electorate that, judging by the comments, is not quite convinced by the project.

---

The most striking thing is not that Colau is the candidate. It is that, after eight years of questioned management, she remains the only card the alternative left is able to put on the table.