Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau—who suspended all of the Spanish city’s ties with Israel, including a “twinning” relationship with Tel Aviv, last February—has lost her seat in the 2023 local Spanish elections.
Colau had cited “the repeated violations of human rights of the Palestinian population and non-compliance with United Nations resolutions” for the decision to boycott Israel. (José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the mayor of Madrid who offered his city as a replacement for a Tel Aviv “twinning,” won reelection.)
Colau lost to Xavier Trias, a former Conservative Barcelona mayor. “Thanks for the trust,” the latter tweeted in Catalan. “We will make a better Barcelona!”
Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, said he would dissolve parliament and call early elections—scheduled for July 23—after conservatives and far-right candidates achieved “strong gains,” Politico reported. The elections were to be held by year’s end.
