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Jordi Ballart i Pastor (born 8 February 1980) is a Spanish politician who has been a city councillor (2005–2017; 2019–) and the mayor (2012–2017; 2019–) of

Terrassa Terrassa (, es, Tarrasa) is a city in the east central region of Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona, ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, of which it is the co-capital along with Sabadell. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin ' ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

. He resigned from office and from membership of the

Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, PSC–PSOE official acronym) is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain, resulting from the merger of three parties: the Socialist Party of Catalonia ...

(PSC) in 2017 due to disagreements with their stance on the

2017 Catalan independence referendum An independence referendum was held on 1 October 2017 in the Autonomous communities of Spain, Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, passed by the Parliament of Catalonia as the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia and cal ...

. He founded his own party Tot per Terrassa (TxT) in 2018 and returned to the mayoralty in 2019, ending 40 years of PSC control in the city.

Career

Ballart became secretary of Terrassa's PSC youth group in 1999, remaining in office for seven years. After graduating in Political Sciences and Administration from the

Autonomous University of Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; , es, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona; UAB), is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. ...

, he was elected to the city hall in 2005. In 2012, as

Pere Navarro Pere Navarro i Morera (born 23 December 1959) is a Spanish politician and member of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, formerly First Secretary of the PSC between 2011 and 2014. Biography He has a degree in Biology from the Autonomous Univers ...

moved up to being the party's regional leader, Ballart became secretary of Terrassa's PSC; already the mayor's deputy in charge of Urban Planning, he became the PSC's spokesman in the city hall in the same year. After Navarro's resignation, Ballart was invested as mayor on 10 December 2012, Terrassa's third since the

Spanish transition to democracy Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. He told ''

La Vanguardia ' (; , Spanish for "The Vanguard") is a Spanish daily newspaper, founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan (Spanish copy is automatically translated into Catalan). It has its headquarters in Barcelona and i ...

'' that he would rather have been directly elected than indirectly by city councillors, but that is the constitutional law. After the

2015 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in the year 2015. Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burun ...

, his party won a plurality with nine seats, though Xavier Mantilla of Terrassa en Comú was the most voted for mayoral candidate; the abstention of the mayoral vote by the four city councillors from

Convergence and Union Convergence and Union ( ca, Convergència i Unió, CiU; ) was a Catalan nationalist electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. It was a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller coun ...

meant that no candidate had a majority and the mayoralty went to Ballart as leader of the largest party. Tot_per_Terrassa_logo

In early November 2017, Ballart resigned as mayor and councillor, and left the PSC. He accused the party and its national affiliate the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE) of moving to the right and endorsing the People's Party (PP) national government's jailing of the leaders of the

. In June 2018, he set up a new party called Tot per Terrassa (TxT) to contest the 2019 elections. He was the surprise winner of those elections, taking ten seats and ending the 40-year reign of the PSC in the city.

Personal life

Ballart is openly gay. He and his partner adopted three children, with the adoption being made official on 14 June 2019, the day before he was sworn in as mayor. Their adopted children are siblings with special needs. The eldest was diagnosed with

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

in August 2021. Ballart has been targeted for abuse and harassment based on his sexual orientation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballart, Jordi 1980 births Living people People from Terrassa Autonomous University of Barcelona alumni Socialists' Party of Catalonia politicians Mayors of places in Catalonia Leaders of political parties in Spain Gay politicians LGBT mayors of places in Spain