Barcelona en Comú

1. 1

   25.2% and 11 of 41 seats. On May 24, 2015, Barcelona en Comú came first, and Ada Colau became the city's first woman mayor.

2. 2

   30,000 signatures before becoming a candidacy. Then: neighborhood meetings, an ethics code and program written with open participation, primaries and a campaign financed without banks.

3. 3

   Earn legitimacy before asking for votes and apply the new rules to yourself first: salaries, term limits, money.

Copy summary

If you're new to this, start with the fundamentals, from the vote goal to what the research says. Read the fundamentals

Barcelona en Comú made a point of not being 'one person's candidacy'.

• Ada Colau

  Co-founder and spokesperson of the PAH (2009–2014); driving force behind Guanyem; mayor of Barcelona (2015–2023)

  Gave the project a face and credibility, but insisted from the launch that it wasn't a personal project and that the members would choose the candidacy.

  Sources

• Gerardo Pisarello

  Legal scholar, No. 2 on the Barcelona en Comú list in 2015

  Co-signed, with the International Committee, the introduction to the Fearless Cities guide (2019), which documents the municipalist network born from the Barcelona victory.

  Sources

• Joan Subirats

  Political scientist (UAB), one of Guanyem's earliest promoters

  Presented the platform in the Raval on June 26, 2014, and later explained how the signatures and neighborhood meetings legitimized the decision to run.

  Sources

• Jaume Asens

  Lawyer, co-spokesperson at Guanyem's launch

  Argued at the launch that the candidacy would not be an 'alphabet soup' of parties, the idea that became the concept of confluence.

  Sources

• Kate Shea Baird

  Barcelona en Comú activist and writer on municipalism

  Wrote about the organization from the inside (plenary, neighborhood groups, SomComuns) and co-wrote the Fearless Cities chapter on how to build a participatory candidacy.

  Sources

• Xavi Ferrer, Pantxo Ramas and Yolanda Sánchez

  Barcelona en Comú; authors of the chapter on the ethics code and financing

  Described how the crowdfunding and microcredit campaign overcame the group's own discomfort with asking for money and raised more than €90,000.

  Sources

• Adrià Rodríguez

  Barcelona en Comú; co-author of the chapter on communication

  Co-wrote, with Alejandra Calvo (Ahora Madrid), the chapter on municipalist communication: concrete language, humor, the 'swarm' and the Graphic Liberation Movement.

  Sources

• Javier Toret and Pablo Aragón

  Technopolitics researchers linked to 15M and the European D-CENT project

  Set up and studied the online tools used to debate the ethics code and the program, and measured participation and the Twitter network.

  Sources

Paraphrases and short quotes from the people who organized the platform, each with its source.

• At the launch, she refused the role of natural candidate: the platform "no es el chiringuito de Ada Colau" (is not Ada Colau's little side business), and the members would choose who headed the list.

  Ada Colau, Launch of Guanyem Barcelona in the Raval, reported by Rebelión, Jun 27, 2014

• The candidacy didn't want to stack up party acronyms: "No queremos ser una sopa de letras" (we don't want to be an alphabet soup).

  Jaume Asens, Launch of Guanyem Barcelona, Rebelión, Jun 27, 2014

• The 30,000 signatures came in within about a month, and the team held some 30 to 40 neighborhood meetings to present the manifesto. The machine was built "in order to win", not just to take part.

  Joan Subirats, Interview with Remix the Commons (Jun 2017), quoted on the P2P Foundation Wiki

• There should be just one citizen platform per city, born from local social reality, not run by any party, and gender-balanced from day one.

  Barcelona en Comú International Committee, How to win back the city en comú, March 2016, p. 5

On June 26, 2014, some 2,000 people packed a public school in the Raval to hear Ada Colau, Joan Subirats and Jaume Asens present Guanyem Barcelona. The municipal elections were 333 days away. The platform didn't declare itself a candidate: it asked for 30,000 signatures and proposals from the neighborhoods before deciding.

30,000

signatures requested to legitimize the candidacy, reached in August 2014campaign figure

1,049

people validated the ethics code online, 96.7% in favorcampaign figure

€90,000+

in donations, plus more than 200 microcredits and no bank loanscampaign figure

11 of 41

council seats and 25.2% of the vote on May 24, 2015, in first placeofficial

From a movement to city hall

1. Feb 2009The PAH (Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca, the Mortgage Victims' Platform) is born in Barcelona. Ada Colau is its spokesperson.
2. Feb 5, 2013The PAH delivers 1.4 million signatures for a housing law to Congress. Colau gains national prominence at the parliamentary hearing.
3. Jun 26, 2014Guanyem Barcelona launches in the Raval. Target: 30,000 signatures by September, half of them from Barcelona residents.
4. Aug 2014The platform passes 30,000 signatures and decides to go ahead. Two days before it files, someone else registers the name 'Guanyem'.
5. Oct 10–11, 2014Open in-person workshop on the ethics code, with around 350 people; online debate, redrafting and online validation follow until 3 December.
6. Feb 2015The name Barcelona en Comú is born. Podem votes 91% in favor of joining and comes into the confluence alongside ICV-EUiA, Procés Constituent and Equo.
7. Mar 7–12, 2015Online primaries: 4,583 participants choose the head of the list, the district candidates and the order of the program's 40 measures.
8. May 24, 2015Barcelona en Comú wins with 176,612 votes (25.2%) and 11 seats; Mayor Xavier Trias's CiU gets 10.
9. Jun 13, 2015Ada Colau is invested as mayor by an absolute majority of the council and forms a minority government.
10. Jun 9–11, 2017The first Fearless Cities summit in Barcelona: more than 700 participants from every continent.

The confluence

Three layers held up the candidacy. The rule was that everyone took part as an individual, with no quotas per organization.

• The citizen coreGuanyem: activists from the PAH, neighborhood associations, culture and the university, who launched the manifesto and organized the neighborhood groups and committees.
• The parties that agreed to dissolve into itICV-EUiA (with seats on the council), Podem, Procés Constituent and Equo joined a common list, with no quotas and without their acronyms on the ballot.
• The creative and digital networksBarcelona's Graphic Liberation Movement (artists and designers) and the SomComuns network of online activists took the campaign beyond the organization.

The method grew out of a specific mix: a brutal housing crisis, a movement with credibility, the assembly culture of 15M, and a municipal electoral law that lets a list with 25% of the vote take city hall.

Platforms

Manifesto with a sign-up form

The 'Guanyem Barcelona' manifesto page had a sign-up button and public lists of first signatories and supporters. It was proof of support, a contact list and an invitation to join, all at once.

Open neighborhood meetings

Schools, squares and residents' associations: meetings to present the manifesto and collect problems and proposals.

DemocracyOS

Free deliberation software, used in a version adapted by the European D-CENT project, to comment on and amend the draft ethics code and the program proposals. On the ethics code there were 365 users, 321 comments, 957 ratings and 139 replies.

Participa + Agora Voting

A voting portal with a register of members and secure voting, used for the primaries, to validate the list and to prioritize the program's 40 measures.

Twitter and Facebook

Twitter was central to communication and organizing in the May 2015 campaign: one study analyzed 373,818 retweets. The SomComuns network of online activists campaigned there and on Facebook, alongside the official accounts and the candidate.

Video and streaming

Short videos (the launch, the neighborhood meetings, 'Now's the time to win') and live streams of events, run by the communication committee.

Decidim (after the victory)

An open-source participation platform created by city hall in February 2016 for the government plan. It wasn't part of the 2015 campaign, but it's the method's best-known technical legacy.

Local conditions

• The post-2008 crisis: 26% unemployment in Spain in 2013, mass evictions and a mortgage law that let banks repossess homes over short arrears.
• A movement with accumulated credibility: the PAH, founded in Barcelona in February 2009, stopped evictions and in 2013 brought a popular legislative initiative with 1.4 million signatures to Congress.
• The assembly and technopolitics culture of 15M (2011), and Podemos bursting onto the scene in the European elections of May 2014, a month before Guanyem's launch.
• Traditional parties discredited by corruption scandals and austerity policies.
• Mass tourism: from 1.7 million hotel guests in 1990 to almost 7.9 million in 2014, putting pressure on rents.
• Spanish electoral law: closed, proportional lists for 41 council seats; the mayor is elected by the city council. Groups of voters can run without a party if they collect signatures.
• The debate over Catalan independence: the platform defended the right to decide without taking sides on independence, so as not to split.
• A bilingual city (Catalan and Spanish), with a dense network of residents' associations and social movements.

The guide Barcelona en Comú itself published in 2016 breaks the build into phases: before the launch, from launch to campaign, the campaign, and government. Behind the phases are three fronts and a cycle that repeated with every major decision. On a 41-member council elected from proportional lists, the goal was to come first and line up support for the investiture vote.

Three fronts

Legitimacy before candidacy

Announce goals and ask the city's permission before naming a candidate. Signatures, neighborhood meetings and local assessments prove there's a possible majority before you ask for votes.

Change the rules at home first

An ethics code with a salary cap, term limits and public diaries, and finances with no banks and open books, show in practice the politics you're promising.

Build in common

Program, code and list made with open participation; parties that join as people, not as acronyms; gender parity in every space.

The collective building cycle

The same cycle was used for the manifesto, the ethics code, the program and the list. Each round left more people committed.

1. Propose a base A gender-balanced pilot group drafts something short: a manifesto, principles, a draft code or a framework document per issue.
2. Listen in the neighborhoods Open meetings in every neighborhood to present the base and collect problems and proposals from the people who live there.
3. Open it to amendment Publish the draft online and on paper, with short deadlines (12 days for the program), for comments and new proposals.
4. Synthesize Issue groups cluster the input, assess feasibility and return a new version, explaining what made it in and what didn't.
5. Vote and prioritize Members validate or rank the proposals: 40 prioritized measures, a code approved with 96.7%, a list validated in the primaries.
6. Commit in public The result becomes a signed commitment (the citizen mandate, the ethics code), not a loose campaign promise.
7. Communicate like a swarm The communication committee, neighborhood groups, artists and online activists spread the result at the same time, each on their own channel.
8. Be accountable Public accounts, diaries and salaries. The cycle starts again in the next phase, with more people and more legitimacy.

And again.

What it takes to build a citizen municipal platform: structure, tools and language. The Barcelona en Comú guide says the structure changes from city to city but should always be horizontal, transparent and easy to join.

Barcelona had conditions few cities have. Elsewhere, keep the sequence and the ethics and swap the tools, channels and legal vehicles.

Choose your country

Pick the moves that fit your city and add them to your kit to combine with moves from other playbooks.

1. Ask the city's permission before running

   Instead of announcing a candidate, the platform published a manifesto and a signature goal with a deadline, and only decided to run after passing 30,000 in August 2014. The signatures became proof of support, a contact list and an invitation to join.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when there is a credible local movement or network and several months to go before the election.

   Don't use when

   It fails if it's just theater: if the decision to run is already made and the result changes nothing, the goal becomes propaganda and trust is lost.

   1. Week −52 Gather a gender-balanced pilot group and write the manifesto and principles
   2. Week −50 Check the legal vehicle with a lawyer and register the name plus alternatives
   3. Week −47 Launch publicly in a working-class neighborhood, with a signature goal and deadline
   4. Week −47 Open the sign-up page with consent and a public counter
   5. Week −45 Hold open meetings in every neighborhood to present the manifesto and listen
   6. Week −39 At the deadline, announce publicly whether the platform will run, and why

   Team

   • Pilot group: writes the manifesto and sets the deadline
   • Spokespeople, more than one: present in the neighborhoods
   • Outreach: welcomes people who sign and want to help
   • Legal support: legal vehicle and name registration

   What to measure: Valid signatures against the public goal (the guide suggests something like 1% of the population), tracked by neighborhood to see where you still need to reach.

   Risks to watch: Signature lists are data on political opinion: ask for explicit consent, keep the minimum and never invent or duplicate signatures to pad the counter.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

2. An ethics code voted before the election

   A code with a salary cap, term limits and public diaries, drafted in two months through an in-person workshop, an online debate and validation by members (96.7% in favor). It showed in practice the politics the platform was promising.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when distrust of politicians is the central issue and the platform is willing to live by the rules it writes.

   Don't use when

   Don't use it as a marketing piece nobody will enforce: rules with exceptions tailored to one person do more damage than having no rules.

   1. Week −33 Draft a short code: salary cap, term limits, public diaries
   2. Week −31 Hold an open in-person workshop to discuss the draft
   3. Week −30 Open the draft to online comments and amendments, with a short deadline
   4. Week −28 Redraft and publish what went in and what didn't, with reasons
   5. Week −27 Have members validate the code by vote, with rules published in advance
   6. Week −9 Have the candidates sign the code in public
   7. 2 week(s) after Set up a body to monitor compliance and publish salaries and diaries

   Team

   • Drafting: writes the draft and later versions
   • Facilitation: runs the workshop and the online debate
   • Oversight: monitors compliance after the election

   What to measure: Code commitments kept each quarter (salaries under the cap, diaries published, term limits respected), checked by the oversight body against everything the candidates signed.

   Risks to watch: A code that is changed to accommodate one figure loses its value; write down from the start how it is revised and who decides exceptions.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

3. A program written by the neighborhoods

   A repeated cycle for the program: a short base text, neighborhood meetings, 12 days of online amendments, synthesis by issue groups and ranking of the 40 measures in the primaries. Each round left more people committed to the result.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when there are neighborhood and issue groups with enough people to synthesize and answer every proposal.

   Don't use when

   Don't open the process if you can't respond: collecting proposals and giving nothing back is worse than not asking.

   1. Week −24 Set up issue groups and write short framework documents for each topic
   2. Week −20 Run neighborhood diagnoses with physical maps and written cards
   3. Week −16 Publish the documents for amendment online and on paper, with a short deadline
   4. Week −14 Synthesize in the issue groups and assess each proposal's feasibility
   5. Week −13 Answer every proposal in public: accepted, merged or rejected, and why
   6. Week −11 Rank the measures through a secure vote of members
   7. Week −9 Turn the result into a signed commitment and spread it

   Team

   • Content committee: coordinates the issue groups
   • Neighborhood groups: run the diagnoses and help people who aren't online
   • Log: keeps public what happened to each proposal

   What to measure: People who attend the neighborhood diagnoses and meetings, counted on the sign-in sheet by neighborhood and age; where turnout is low, take a meeting there before closing the program.

   Risks to watch: Online tools leave out people with less time or digital confidence; give every step an in-person equivalent and verify the identity of voters.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

4. Bank-free finances and open books

   The campaign raised more than €90,000 in donations and more than 200 microloans from individuals, interest-free and repaid within a year, with no bank loans and with its accounts published. Money from many people became independence and an argument.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when the law allows identified individuals to donate and lend, and someone runs the treasury rigorously.

   Don't use when

   Don't use microloans where election law bans them or without being sure you can repay: an unpaid debt to supporters destroys trust.

   1. Week −30 Check with the election authority what is allowed: donations, loans, limits
   2. Week −28 Write the policy: no banks, public accounts, identified contributors
   3. Week −26 Set up the finance committee and a page for donations and microloans
   4. Week −20 Ask for support at every meeting and repeat the microloan terms
   5. Week −16 Publish income and spending in an open, up-to-date log
   6. Week −4 Run a joyful, visible fundraising push in the final stretch
   7. 26 week(s) after Repay the microloans on time and publish the closing accounts

   Team

   • Treasury: records every payment in and every repayment
   • Finance committee: asks, explains and follows up on the microloans
   • Legal support: confirms limits and identification

   What to measure: Number of people who donate or lend (not just the total raised) and the share of microloans repaid on the promised date. The target is 100%.

   Risks to watch: Funding rules vary widely: identify every contributor, respect caps and bans, and repay loans on the date you promised.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

5. Communicate like a swarm

   The communication committee, neighborhood groups, artists offering images open to remix and the SomComuns cyberactivist network posted at the same time, each on its own channel, in neighborly language and with many faces. The candidate was one voice among many.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when there is a network of volunteers and creators willing to post in sync, plus free materials to adapt.

   Don't use when

   Don't let communication replace assemblies and organizing: a piece that doesn't lead to a way to take part is just noise.

   1. Week −30 Set up the communication committee and a network of volunteer digital activists
   2. Week −20 Invite artists and designers to make free images for remixing
   3. Week −12 Write every piece with the formula: concrete, local, us, proposal, invitation
   4. Week −8 Agree on a day, time and hashtag to post in sync at each milestone
   5. Week −6 Livestream assemblies and events for people who can't be there
   6. Week −2 Hold small events in every neighborhood instead of one big rally
   7. Week −1 Show several spokespeople and the neighborhood groups, not just the list leader

   Team

   • Communication committee: sets the calendar and messages
   • Cyberactivist network: posts in sync on their own profiles
   • Artists and designers: make free materials
   • Neighborhood groups: show local work

   What to measure: People who, from each channel, show up at a neighborhood meeting, sign or sign up for a task, counted on the sign-in sheet or by source link. Likes and views don't count.

   Risks to watch: Syncing is not faking volume: only real accounts that identify themselves, no fake profiles or automation, and every fact sourced.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

Barcelona's sequence (333 days between launch and the vote) set out as a checklist. Your progress is saved in this browser.

The platform promised to do politics differently, so every broken rule cost it credibility.

Identified money

Follow party finance law: identify donors and lenders and publish your accounts. In Valencia, the sister platform turned that obligation into a transparency tool.

No banks, no hidden big donors

It's an ethical choice, not a legal requirement. It's also what lets the platform say what it thinks.

Ethics code before the election

Binding on everyone, concrete, understandable and revisable, with a body that monitors compliance.

Data protection

Signature lists, member registers and votes are personal data and sometimes reveal political opinion. Ask for explicit consent and comply with the GDPR, Brazil's LGPD or your local law.

Verifiable votes

One person, one vote: identity verification, rules published in advance, results with turnout and percentages.

Parity and accessibility

Gender parity on the list and in decision-making bodies, schedules compatible with work and care, and an in-person alternative to every digital tool.

Registration and name

Check the rules for registering a party or a group of voters early, and protect the name before you announce it.

Real people only

No fake profiles, made-up signatures, duplicate votes or automated accounts to look bigger.

Sourced facts

Be rigorous with information: credibility is a citizen platform's main asset.

Local law

In the European Union, since October 2025 Meta has not accepted political, electoral or social-issue ads, and Google has stopped serving political ads as the regulation defines them. Regulation (EU) 2024/900, which also covers local elections, requires labels and transparency notices on paid political ads and allows targeting only with explicit consent and without sensitive data. Check your country's rules with a lawyer before you start. See the “Law and platforms in the European Union” section in Fundamentals.

It doesn't deliver a majority

Winning with 25% and 11 of 41 seats meant governing as a minority, depending on deals and seeing projects blocked, like the remunicipalization of water, stalled in the courts.

Participation wears people out

Recruitment slowed after the 2015 election: joining as a new member was hard between 2015 and 2018, and the pandemic demobilized people further. In online votes, turnout fell from 87% of eligible members in March to 23% in July 2015, with a sharp drop among people aged 30 to 40.

The institution changes those who enter it

Activists became administrators and the organization professionalized. As one councilor put it: the institution changes us more than we change it.

It depends on one figure

Despite the collective discourse, Colau's charisma held the coalition together. The exception to the two-term limit was used so she could run again, and in 2025 the code swapped that rule for a 12-year cap with no exceptions.

Ethical rules wear thin too

The social fund fed by surplus salaries (La Filadora) handed out €216,000 in its first round, but stopped after 2018 with no public explanation, while the opposition accused the government of helping friendly organizations.

Digital doesn't reach everyone

Online tools leave out some older people and those with less time; without in-person channels, participation reproduces inequality.

Movements and government clash

The PAH itself criticized the slow pace on evictions. Having your own people in power doesn't make outside pressure unnecessary.

City hall lost in 2023

Barcelona en Comú lost city hall in 2023 and the new government canceled some of the participatory projects.

Five questions to lock in the essentials.

Free materials from organizations that train organizers, linked to this case.

• Organizing Guide: People, Power, Change

  Guide · The Commons Social Change Library · EN

  The community-organizing handbook based on Marshall Ganz: relationships, narrative, team structure, strategy and action.

• What is Organizing? The "People, Power, Change" Framework

  Guide · Leading Change Network · EN

  Short introduction to the five leadership practices of the Ganz method. Use it to align your team on what organizing means before handing out tasks.

• The Croydon Story: How losing an election taught us how to win

  Case study · European Center for Digital Action · 2026-07 · EN

  Rowenna Davis tells the story of her Croydon (London) mayoral campaign and what losing taught her about direct contact and trust. Good for post-election reviews.

Library

This playbook is built mainly from materials published by Barcelona en Comú itself and its organizers (the 2016 guide and the 2019 book Fearless Cities), interviews and studies with internal data, and press coverage from 2014 to 2026, accessed on October 26, 2026.

Updated 26 October 2026