Spanish judiciary allows election of puigdemont only in his presence
The spanish judiciary has given the separatists in catalonia a steaming blow and made the election of their candidate carles puigdemont as regional president virtually impossible.
The 55-year-old must return from exile in belgium and be present in person for the vote in the parliament in barcelona, the constitutional court in madrid ruled on saturday evening after more than seven hours of deliberations. Since puigdemont was immediately arrested on his return to spain, the court "closed all doors" to him, as the newspaper "el mundo" wrote on sunday.
Puigdemont, who was deposed in october, was reappointed last week as the sole candidate for the post by catalan parliamentary president roger torrent. The debate is scheduled to begin tuesday afternoon.
The 55-year-old separatist had previously intended to present his government program or send a representative via video link from brussel. If puigdemont does not appear, the meeting to form the government will automatically be canceled, it now hailed.
The former journalist puigdemont is accused of rebellion, sedition and misappropriation of public funds in the course of a referendum on independence in october 2017, which was banned by the judiciary, and a resulting decision on independence. In spain, this is punishable by many years in prison. Nevertheless, the separatist parties had once again won a majority in the new election shortly before christmas – much to madrid’s chagrin.
Puigdemont had hoped to speak to parliament in barcelona via skype. The government of spanish prime minister mariano rajoy, which is determined to prevent his re-election, has lodged an appeal with the constitutional court. However, the judges’ decision after their marathon session was an uncompromising one: puigdemont’s candidacy was neither completely overturned – as madrid had wanted – nor accepted unconditionally.
Puigdemont therefore described the ruling as a defeat for madrid. "Even the constitutional court has rejected the fraud that the moncloa palace (the government in madrid) was up to," he wrote on twitter. He will now try to obtain permission from the supreme court to take part in the parliamentary debate after all, the europa press news agency quoted deputy josep rull of puigdemont’s juntspercat (together for catalonia) list as saying.
The central government, on the other hand, celebrated "the prohibition of a fraudulent parliamentary session". Rajoy tweeted that all democrats had a duty to respect court rulings. The newspaper "ABC" headlined: "the only way for puigdemont to become regional president leads to jail."
Whether puigdemont will return to spain from exile is more than questionable. Because he had to enter unnoticed and sneak into parliament. According to legal experts, the father of two little girls was granted parliamentary immunity at best only after he had taken the oath of office as a deputy. But the constitutional court also made clear on saturday that the elected candidate cannot take office "without judicial authorization" because of the arrest warrant in hand.
In addition, the security authorities are currently working "very intensively" to ensure that the separatist does not enter "either in a helicopter or by ship or hidden in a trunk," as interior minister juan ignacio zoido had recently emphasized.
The ruling goes on to say: "the deputies against whom a warrant has been issued were not allowed to delegate their vote". This may have made puigdemont’s election even more difficult, because three separatist deputies are in custody, and another four, like puigdemont, are in belgium. The three parties in favor of the secession of catalonia had won in the new election of 21. December won a majority of seats, but it was a close call with 70 out of a total of 135 seats.
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