Xavier García Albiol

Biography

Born as the son of an egetano (constituent of Vélez-Blanco) street sweeper driver and a Catalonian hairdresser, Albiol grew up in La Morera, on the outskirts of the city of Badalona, and studied at the Colegio Badalonés. Later, thanks to his height of 2.01 metres (6 ft 7 in), he played basketball with the team Joventut Badalona. He began studying law, but in 1989 abandoned his studies for a career in politics.

In 1990, he became president of the People's Party of Badalona. In 1991, Albiol was sworn into his first public office, as a councilor in Badalona.

Politics

He has been the president of the People's Party of Badalona twice: first from 1990 to 1996, and then from 2001 to the present. Between 1995 and 2000, he was the Secretary General of the People's Party. Between 2000 and 2003, he was vice-Secretary General of the People's Party of Catalonia (PPC). Between 2003 and 2005, he was Secretary of Municipal Policy of the PPC, and between 2005 and 2008 he was vice-secretary of the PPC organization. He then directed the PPC campaign during the 2008 Spanish general election.

In regards to local administrative (Spanish: supramunicipal) positions, he was deputy speaker of the People's Party in the Comarcal Council of Barcelonés between 1991 and 1995, and, later, between 1995 and 1999 he became the speaker. During this time he also served as advisor to the Mancomunidad of Municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. Afterwards, between 1999 and 2003, he was speaker for his party in the Diputación Provincial de Barcelona. He is currently a member of the executive committee of the PPC and president of his party in the Diputación Provincial.

Mayor of Badalona

On 6 June 2011, Albiol was elected Mayor of Badalona by simple majority.

In 2010, rival party Initiative for Catalonia Greens brought a case against Albiol before the Public Prosecutor's Office of Barcelona, charging him with violating article 510 of the Spanish Penal Code following his publication of a "xenophobic" pamphlet that linked immigration of Romani to increased crime. On December 11, 2013, he was acquitted of all charges by the Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona.

On 23 January 2013, Albiol, with the support of the city's supermarkets, launched a campaign titled "A Badalona no es llença el menjar" (In Badalona, we don't waste food) which sought to reduce the price of food nearing its expiration date by 50%.

Despite receiving the most votes at 35%, Albiol lost the 2015 Badalona mayoral election. In Spain, for a candidate to have truly won the race for mayor, the city council must unanimously vote to invest the new mayor. Typically, city councils in Spain invest the candidate with the most popular votes as a rubber-stamp committee, but the council in this case ignored the votes and instead invested runner-up Dolors Sabater. Responding to the news, Albiol was quoted by El Mundo as saying "Esta ciudad está indignada al ver lo que se ha hecho hoy. Por primera vez, en esta ciudad hay una alcaldesa que no es de la fuerza más votada." (This city is outraged at what happened today. For the first time in the history o this city there is a mayor who received a minority of votes.)