Three Catalan list heads named

Vox has named Ignasi Mulleras for Girona, Rafael Villafranca for Lleida and Jordi de la Fuente for Tarragona as the heads of its lists to the Congress of Deputies for the general election on 29 November. The party announced the three names on Thursday, 22 October. Juanjo Aizcorbe, announced on Wednesday, 21 October, will again lead the Barcelona list. Mulleras is a councillor in Roses (Girona), Villafranca is a deputy in the Parlament, and De la Fuente is secretary general of the Solidaridad union, which is linked to Vox. At the last general election Vox won two seats in Catalonia, both in the province of Barcelona. eldiario.es reports that De la Fuente hopes to win the Tarragona seat that eluded Vox in 2023, in a province that allocates six seats.

A hate-crime case set for trial in July 2027

De la Fuente is accused of a hate crime over an attack on a centre housing unaccompanied migrant minors in El Masnou, Barcelona, on 4 July 2019, according to laSexta. The Fiscalía de Mataró-Arenys de Mar seeks prison terms of between two years two months and four years four months for seven ultras, De la Fuente among them, plus fines of between 2,700 and 3,600 euros. According to the prosecutor's written charge, the group chanted racist slogans, including one threatening to burn the shelter. The prosecutor argues the defendants acted in a campaign of intolerance fostered on social media, which created a climate of anguish and panic. EL PAÍS reports that four people were injured in the attack and that De la Fuente boasted on social media of taking part in it. The trial is scheduled for July 2027.

Why the trial could affect the ballot

The prosecutor also asks that De la Fuente be barred from standing for elected office, a penalty that would have kept him off the 29 November ballot had he been convicted, EL PAÍS reports. Because his election as a deputy for Tarragona is treated as certain by polls, the trial could be suspended and the case moved to the Tribunal Supremo, which would need to ask Congress for permission to proceed. EL PAÍS cites legal sources who say the Supreme Court could instead leave the case with the Mataró court, given how advanced the investigation is. The same paper notes that most polls give the PP and Vox a majority together.

Background reported by the media

eldiario.es describes De la Fuente, born in Barcelona in 1986, as a longstanding figure in the neo-Nazi movement in Catalonia. The outlet reports that he once led the Movimiento Social Republicano, a group that denied the Holocaust, and shared a platform with Pedro Varela, a far-right bookseller. It says he later served as organisation secretary of Plataforma per Catalunya before joining Vox, where his arrival caused internal friction in 2019. eldiario.es also reports that he is a councillor in Sant Adrià del Besòs and a provincial deputy. A party statement, cited by the same outlet, stresses his long-standing family and personal ties to Segur de Calafell, where he found his first job as a minor. In 2025 Santiago Abascal put him in charge of the Solidaridad union, and laSexta reports that Abascal has referred to him as an example.