Poll: Catalan Alliance could become Catalonia’s second-largest force — Al Jazeera

In Spain, the far-right party Catalan Alliance (Aliança Catalana) is gaining support amid anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment in Catalonia. According to polls, in the next regional elections in 2028 it could become the region’s second-largest political force after the Socialists, Al Jazeera reports.

The party supports Catalan independence and advocates tightening migration policy. It portrays Islam as a threat to society. Catalan Alliance is gaining some support from voters who previously voted for other separatist forces — Together for Catalonia and the Republican Left of Catalonia. These parties were among those involved in the unsuccessful attempt to separate the region from Spain in 2017.

Poll forecast

A poll for the newspaper El Mundo, released in September, showed that if elections had been held then, Catalan Alliance could have won 25–28 seats in the Parliament of Catalonia and 16.7% of the vote. The party currently has only two lawmakers in the regional parliament.

According to this survey, the Socialists would remain the largest party with 23.3% support, but would lose 10 seats and win 19–22 seats. Other parties supporting Catalan independence would also lose voter support.

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Concerns of the Muslim community

The leader of Catalan Alliance, Sílvia Orriols, is also the mayor of Ripoll. According to Al Jazeera, after the 2017 attack in Barcelona, she became firmly opposed to Muslims. It was in Ripoll that members of the cell planned the attack in which 16 people were killed.

According to the Union of Islamic Federations of Spain, 2.4 million Muslims live in the country, with the largest community located in Catalonia. Juan Ignacio Castien Maestro, an expert on Islamic affairs at the Complutense University of Madrid, said that Muslim migrants are increasingly being linked to the housing crisis, unemployment and other social problems.

Spain’s National Statistics Institute reports that about one-fifth of the country’s nearly 50 million population was born outside the country. The largest groups by citizenship are Colombians, Venezuelans and Moroccans.