BARCELONA, SPAIN - MAY 08: The president of Cataluña, Quim Torra, is seen during the plenary session ... [+]
Spain’s Electoral Board disqualified Catalan president Quim Torra from being a lawmaker of Catalonia’s Parliament on Friday, which could lead to him losing the presidency.
The decision came on the eve of the investiture debate in the Spanish Congress to elect the Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez prime minister. The final confidence vote is set for January 7 after almost one year of political blockade.
Torra was sentenced last month by the Catalan High Court of Justice to an 18-month ban from public office. The Catalan leader was accused of disobedience after refusing to remove separatist symbols from government buildings during April’s general electoral campaign.
The Catalan president appealed to the Supreme Court, meaning the sentence is not final. However, the Electoral Board has ruled political disqualification before the end of the judicial process following a request from Spanish right-wing parties.
According to the Catalan autonomy statute, the chief of the region needs to be a deputy of the Catalan Assembly in order to take office, although it is not specified if this status must be maintained throughout the mandate.
Fear among the Socialists over confidence vote
Torra’s disqualification from office could complicate the confidence vote next Tuesday since Sánchez counts on the abstention of the 13 deputies of the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) —which govern in Catalonia together with Torra’s party Junts per Cat— to be elected.
The ERC has shown discontent with the Electoral Board’s ruling and summoned an extraordinary meeting this Saturday to discuss the “political consequences” of its ally’s condemn.
On January 2, the pro-independence party reached an agreement with the Socialist Party (PSOE) to abstain during the investiture session in exchange for new bilateral negotiations about the political situation in Catalonia.
But as soon as the Electoral Board’s ruling was made public, some sectors of the ERC pushed to break the pact with the socialists. In response, the president of ERC’s national council Joan Tardà twitted: "They will not manage to prevent the investiture."
After the ERC’s urgent meeting today, the party leadership has announced they will maintain the agreement with the PSOE and abstain.
On the contrary, Torra’s party Junts per Cat has reaffirmed its opposition to the coalition government: “We are not here to invest a Spanish prime minister when the State' structures are trying to remove the president of Catalonia. Our position remains ‘no’,” said spokesperson Laura Borràs.
In a gesture of reassurance this morning, Sánchez has started his speech in the investiture debate at Congress referring to Catalonia: “Dialogue is the way,” said the presidential candidate , who has defended the political path instead of the “judicialization of the conflict.”
The PSOE questioned the Electoral Board’s competence to adopt this resolution shortly after it came out: “It is not a jurisdictional body, it is merely administrative,” said PSOE’s vice secretary-general Adriana Lastra. “We hope that the Supreme court will respond as soon as possible,” Lastra added.
Torra refuses to give up the presidency
On his side, Torra has described the ruling od the Electoral Board as a “coup d’état” and asked the president of the Catalan Parliament Roger Torrent to call an extraordinary plenary session this Saturday. “The plenary has to make a statement to reject this resolution which violates the law,” Torra said.
“As long as the Parliament of Catalonia does not say otherwise, I will continue to be a Member of Parliament and President of Catalonia and to exercise my functions,” the Catalan president added.
Torra’s trial is based on his refusal to remove headquarters reading “Freedom for political prisoners and exiles” and a big yellow ribbon –a symbol used to express solidarity with the Catalan leaders in prison – from the regional government building.
According to the Electoral Board, these symbols were “tools of political propaganda” breaking electoral campaign laws.
The Public Prosecutor's Office took the case to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, which ruling for disobedience was appealed by Torra and it is now in the hands of Spain's Supreme Court.
It is unclear whether the disqualification as a regional deputy will have an immediate effect on Torra's role as president. If so, there is the possibility that Catalonia will be facing new elections this year.
