The Provincial Electoral Board of Barcelona has executed this Friday the decision of the Central Electoral Board (JEC) of removing the act of deputy in the Parliament Quim Torra. The electoral authority considers that their seat has to occupy Ferran Mascarell, the next person on the list with that Junts per Catalunya presented to the Catalan elections of December 21, 2017. Sources in the Parliament have explained that despite this notice, the Catalan Chamber is still firm in his belief that Torra is a member of parliament and that the national electoral commission is not competent to withdraw the credential to the president. “We cannot accept it,” he assured the leader of Junts per Catalunya in the Parliament, Albert Batet.
“The Provincial Electoral Board of Barcelona declares the vacancy as a deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia, for the constituency of Barcelona, of don Joaquim Torra i Pla, and must be issued the credential in favor of mr. Ferran Mascarell i Canalda,” says the communication of execution of the agreement of the Board. The decision disregards the request of the Round, this Friday morning, they were asked not to run, because there was a pending appeal before the Supreme Court.
Sources from the presidency of the Parliament have explained that the notification of the provincial board does not change the criteria defended so far. “We understand that the national electoral commission is not a competent body to withdraw the certificate of a deputy to anybody. The president Quim Torra is still a deputy of the Parliament of right”, there was such a Torrent this afternoon, before it was known what the execution of the decision of the Central Electoral Board.
just As vehement have been several representatives from Junts per Catalunya. “You can’t disable the sovereignty of the people of Catalonia. No electoral board has the power nor the legitimacy to withdraw the act to a deputy. We cannot accept it. We plant”, has tuiteado Batet. “We are still where we are. If the JEC cannot deprive any of his or her seat, unless you can do the Provincial Board”, has expressed the vice-president of the Parliament, Josep Costa.
last week, the electoral body central had decided to disable to Torra as a deputy. The board had studied the request of Vox, PP, and Citizens, seeking to remove the president the status of a deputy under one of the assumptions that includes the electoral law. The Parliament and the presidency of the Generalitat, however, argue that only the Estatut and the Regulation of the Parliament collected the cases in which a member of the Catalan parliament can lose his status. This was the argument with which Torra asked for measures cautelarísimas the Supreme, which were also rejected by this Friday.
“I Am a deputy of the Parliament and president of the government”, said Torra in an institutional statement, recalling the vote of the Catalan Chamber, last week, in which the majority independence adopted a resolution that has already qualified a “coup d’état” the decision of the JEC.
