The Central Electoral Board struck on Friday, the Catalan politics and the investiture of Pedro Sanchez with two decisions with unforeseeable consequences. The electoral authority agreed to withdraw Quim Torra credential as deputy regional after the sentence that condemned him last December to a year and a half opt-out for disobedience and it is not yet firm. This decision means, according to various legal sources, the cessation of the Round as president of the Generalitat, as the Estatut Catalan states that the head of the regional government is chosen from among the members of the Parliament. The Board refused, moreover, to arrange the act of a member of the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, after the ruling european which established that he had immunity before being condemned by the procés.
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The Board of Elections agrees to dismiss Quim Torra after his conviction for disobedience of The PSOE complaint a ploy of the right for the boycott of the investiture
The output of Torra del Palau of the Generalitat would not be, in any case, immediate. Sources of the defense of Torra reported that they are going to appeal against the decision in the Room of the Contentious-Administrative of the Supreme, tasked with reviewing the resolutions of the Central Electoral Board, and that they are going to ask for the suspension “cautelarísima” of the agreement that removes the act as a deputy, a decision which the high court has to adopt in 24 hours.
Torra, in an institutional statement at nine in the evening, he said that the president of the Generalitat only what you can dismiss the Parliament and said the decision is “an attack against the voters and their right of representation.” After the speech of the Round, the flag of Spain was momentarily lowered to the Palau de la Generalitat, at the Plaça Sant Jaume of Barcelona. Today at five in the afternoon, the Parliament will hold a Plenary session extraordinary.
The decisions of the Electoral Board on Torra and Junqueras were an earthquake in the context of the investiture of Pedro Sánchez as president of the Government. ERC will meet today morning to assess its “consequences in the political calendar immediately.” Adriana Lastra, spokesperson of the PSOE in the Congress, expressed “serious doubts” of the party that the Electoral Board is competent to dismiss Torra and linked the resolutions with maneuvers “of the right and the ultra-right” to stop the investiture of Sanchez.
The Board of Elections, a body halfway between the judicial and the administrative manager to ensure the neutrality and transparency of the elections, said that Torra is “ineligible” following the judgment of the high Court of Justice of Catalonia of 19 December which condemned him to a year and a half of disqualification for an offence of disobedience. The Organic Law from General Electoral Regime (Goel) provides in its article 6.2 that the damned in judgment do not sign on for a series of crimes, including disobedience cannot attend elections. These, also, are affected by the “incompatibility”, that is to say, a legal prohibition to exercise a public function.
In its resolution, the Central Electoral Board agreed “to leave without effect the credential of deputy” of Torra to the Parliament of Catalonia in Barcelona. And orders to the Electoral committee of that province who, once he is notified the text, “declare a vacancy” of his seat and issuing the credential to the next member of the list of Junts per Catalunya to the regional elections of December 21, 2017, which were convened by the central Government in application of article 155 of the Constitution.
The highest electoral authority annulled, by seven votes against six, an agreement of the Provincial Electoral Board of Barcelona that the day of christmas Eve rejected the request of PP, Vox and Citizens dismiss to Torra so fulminant. The president was condemned for flouting the order of the Board to remove a banner in favor of the freedom of the political prisoners for their participation in the fall pro-independence Catalan 2017. This judgment has been appealed by Torra and is pending to be confirmed —or not— by the Supreme. It could be possible that Torra outside section of the office of president of the Generalitat, and after the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme overturn the ruling that disqualified by disobedience.
The Electoral Board, made up of eight judges of various benches of the Supreme chosen by lot, and five professors nominated by the parties represented in the Congress, split almost in half when taking the decision. Six members, among them three judges, announced a particular vote in which they consider that the electoral administration is not competent to dismiss the Round as a deputy. The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, a standard range of organic law, as the Goel, states that the president of the Generalitat only you can stop by “criminal conviction firm.”
The key to be a deputy
The loss of the status of a deputy involves, according to different sources, the automatic termination as president of the Generalitat. Article 67.2 of the Estatut establishes that the chief Executive of catalonia“, is elected by the Parliament from among its members.” The defense of Torra argues that this condition of being a deputy is limited to the election and no longer would govern once appointed head of the Executive, so that the loss of the status of deputy does not entail his / her dismissal as president of the Government.
The resolution of this body shall not enter into force until it is notified to the parties, which will not happen until they have individual votes, what there is of term until the Tuesday the 14th, according to legal sources.
In the same session this Friday, the Board rejected the request of Oriol Junqueras able to access the act of a deputy in the European Parliament following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union which declared that the leader of ERC enjoyed immunity from the 13 of June is proclaimed the results of the european elections. Then, Junqueras was in provisional detention pending the judgment by the judgment of the procés, in which he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for sedition.
When this judgment of the Supreme sign, the Election Board considers that Junqueras is affected of “ineligibility began,” so that you declare the loss of status of member of the European Parliament and the vacancy shall be filled with the next member of the list of the coalition are Now Republics, which was headed by the leader of CKD.
The left censorship of the resolutions of the Board of Elections
The left-wing parties and nationalists rejected it in stark terms the resolutions of the Central Electoral Board on Quim Torra and Oriol Junqueras. Andl federal coordinator of United Left, Alberto Garzón, said on Twitter that the removal of Torra is “a political operation in the service of the reactionaries” to “continue to hamper the endowment and the coalition between PSOE and United we Can. The deputy of the Galician Nationalist Bloc in the Congress, Nestor Rego, rejected the decision as “a real coup political” and a “nonsense” of law.
The PNV, also in social networks, stated that the decision of the Electoral Board on Torra is “a new step in the wrong direction” and called for “dialogue and agreement”.
