Aliança Catalana has designated Marc Villafañe as the head of the list for the Girona city council, making him the first candidate confirmed by the party for a provincial capital. The party is thus placing one of its most advanced moves for the upcoming municipal elections in Girona, although it has not officially confirmed the candidacy when asked about it.
The paradox is that the party is already placing a name and a number two in its bid to compete in one of Catalonia's most relevant cities, but it maintains that step without public endorsement. Alongside Villafañe will be Gisela Sidera, current president of the local executive of Aliança Catalana, who will occupy the second position on the list.
Aliança Catalana places its first candidate for a provincial capital in Girona
Villafañe is involved in the operation of small medical centers, owning one in Palamós and another in Girona. Additionally, he sponsors the local Palamós football team, a connection that has made him known in Baix Empordà.
Local sources have placed Villafañe within the party's political project for months. In the same deployment, Aliança Catalana plans to open a new headquarters in the city of Girona "very soon."
The party already has 13 confirmed heads of list in various municipalities. Among them are Mireia Alomà in Mataró, Ferran Calvera in Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Sílvia Orriols in Ripoll, and Elisenda Carrera in Vic, in addition to confirmed candidacies in Tortosa, Amposta, Sant Vicenç de Castellet, Reus, Figueres, Banyoles, Tàrrega, and Roda de Ter.
Candidacies in Manresa, Lleida, Tarragona, and Barcelona are yet to be defined. In the Catalan capital, Sílvia Orriols unsuccessfully attempted to bring in publicist Lluís Carrasco to head the list.
Girona is already shaping an electoral race with Salellas, Geis, and Puigtió
Villafañe's designation enters a local landscape that already had several names on the table. The current mayor of Girona, Lluc Salellas, from the CUP, will run again after governing with an agreement with Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya.
Junts per Catalunya will present Gemma Geis as the head of the list and lawyer Carles Ribas as number two. ERC, for its part, has chosen Marc Puigtió as the candidate for the city council.
In Aliança Catalana's candidacy, Sidera reinforces a profile already known within the party. She was third on the lists for the Parliament in 2024, behind Sílvia Orriols and Jordi Coma.
His public career has also been linked to associations of victims of terrorism following the death of his father in the 1979 fire at the Hotel Corona de Aragón in Zaragoza, in which 83 people died.
From the region, various sources describe Villafañe as a person who has sought to project an image of success and luxury on social media, especially on Instagram. That profile coexists with his business activity between Girona and Palamós and with the sponsorship of the Palamós football club.
Gisela Sidera, number two on the list in Girona, was third in the candidacy for the Parliament in 2024 after Sílvia Orriols and Jordi Coma.