Ripoll has pushed through the municipal budgets with the abstention of the PSC councilors and an independent councilor, a move that has allowed the local government of Aliança Catalana to overcome the vote despite being in a minority.
The municipal executive is headed by Sílvia Orriols, who governs the City Council without a sufficient majority. In this scenario, the position of the opposition was decisive to resolve some accounts that ended up being approved thanks to the abstention of several councilors.
A decisive abstention in the plenary
The socialist councilors and an independent councilor opted not to block the budget proposal. That decision facilitated that the municipal government of Ripoll could validate the accounts and maintain its roadmap in the council.
The vote went ahead due to the abstention of those councilors, in a session marked by the numerical weight of each group in a city council where Aliança Catalana does not have an absolute majority.
Warning from the PSC leadership
The decision of the socialist councilors in Ripoll has had a response from the party's leadership. The PSC warned that it could "act accordingly" after the abstention of its councilors in the budget vote.
That notice now opens an internal front in the socialist sphere, after a vote that has had a direct effect on the governability of the municipality and on the continuity of the action of the local executive led by Orriols.
With the accounts already approved, the focus is placed both on the management of the Ripoll government and on the possible decisions that the PSC may adopt regarding its municipal representatives after an abstention that has proven decisive.