The candidate of Ciudadanos (CS) for the presidency of the Generalitat, Carlos Carrizosa, has presented this Wednesday an appeal before a contentious-administrative court to challenge the candidacy of the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who heads the JxCat list for the elections on 12 of May.
This was announced by Carrizosa at the doors of the Palace of Justice in Barcelona, accompanied by some members of the Cs lists for the Catalan elections, such as the number two for Barcelona, Marina Bravo, or the head of the list for Tarragona, Matías Alonso.
Carrizosa has argued that Puigdemont "has been residing in Belgium for seven years and, therefore, his census registration does not correspond to reality."
According to the electoral regulations collected on the website enabled by the Generalitat for the 12M elections, to be a candidate you must have the political status of citizen of Catalonia, that is, have Spanish nationality and, or be registered in a Catalan municipality, or be a resident abroad but have had your last address in a municipality in Catalonia.
CS has submitted, along with the appeal, a lawsuit that Puigdemont filed against a journalist "for defamation", in which, as Carrizosa explained, "he took advantage of Belgian law" and established his residence in Belgium "so that the lawsuit would not continue in Spain".
"Puigdemont himself saying that he lives in Brussels, he would have to have registered in the CERA - the registry of permanent residents abroad - to be able to be on the electoral roll," he noted.
Convinced that the former Catalan president has not made this registration "because he is a fugitive from justice," Carrizosa believes that Puigdemont "does not comply with the requirements" and, therefore, "cannot stand for election."
"If all candidates in these elections have to meet legal requirements, and we do, Puigdemont cannot once again be above the laws. What we ask is that all candidates be on equal terms," he said. .
CS has presented this "contentious electoral appeal" against the decision of the Provincial Electoral Board of Barcelona to proclaim Puigdemont's candidacy and, now, hopes that, once JxCat presents its allegations, the corresponding court will rule in "two days" this challenge.
On the other hand, Carrizosa has celebrated that the Electoral Board has partially upheld a SC appeal so that the public media of the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (CCMA) "cannot make political use", he said, of expressions such as "exiles". ", because they violate the principle of "neutrality".
