Former French prime minister Manuel Valls is to announce on Tuesday that he will stand for the mayoralty of Barcelona in the municipal elections due in May 2019, in an event at the city's CCCB cultural centre. The intention of Valls, as he himself has outlined it in the past, is to head a platform that gathers together different political backgrounds with candidates from different parties as well as independents. However, from the beginning his possible candidature has been clearly linked to the Ciudadanos party and anti-Catalan independence positions.
The press release related to Tuesday's event says that Valls will reveal "his position in relation to the Barcelona municipal elections".
In recent days, Valls has dropped various hints about his intentions, such as the ambiguous tweet he published this Friday featuring an image of two feet treading the traditional paving stones of Barcelona:
Barcelona... pic.twitter.com/6IAsPznecP
— Manuel Valls (@manuelvalls) 21 de setembre de 2018
A further clue was sending his press release from the email address @valls2019.com.
The CCCB presentation will feature the people "who have accompanied Valls during the process of reflection he has undertaken since last June, and those who have shared ideas about the future about Barcelona with him", says the press release.