She was defeated by Xavier Trias, the right-wing candidate from the Junts party, a former mayor who Colau had previously unseated in 2015.
Colau, known in the past for backing the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, caused a media stir last February when she opted to dissolve the twin city pact between Barcelona and Tel Aviv. The Catalan capital had been twinned with the Israeli city for 25 years.