The Central Electoral Board (JEC) decided this Wednesday to dismiss the allegations presented by the president of Junts, Laura Borràs, and by the vice president of the Catalan Chamber, the republican Alba Vergés, regarding the loss of deputy status of the Parliament of the first , when there is a cause of ineligibility that occurred after being sentenced by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia to four and a half years in prison and 13 years of disqualification for prevarication and document falsification.
In the body that acts as electoral arbitrator, they understand that the assumption provided for in article 6.2 B of the electoral regime law occurs when dealing with crimes "against the Public Administration or against State Institutions", and they consider the credential to have expired. de Borràs in addition to issuing the next one, that of Antoni Castellà, according to what La Vanguardia has learned. In any case, the agreement of the administrative body was not communicated to the parties this Wednesday and it will be made public during the day of this Thursday.
The body had already hinted at what the meaning of its decision would be in the first resolution it adopted in relation to this matter, but it had granted both the affected party and Vergés, who has held the functions of president of Parliament since July, ten days to submit claims. Both had argued that the JEC lacks powers for this withdrawal of the act from Borràs, a decision that, according to their criteria, could only be adopted by the bodies of Parliament. Borràs added to this reason the affectation of her fundamental rights.
The resolution was as expected, since those same arguments were already dismissed by the JEC and by the Supreme Court in the case of former president Quim Torra and former CUP deputy Pau Juvillà.
After the conviction in the TSJC, it was the groups of PP, Vox and Ciudadanos who turned to the administrative body to demand the withdrawal of the deputy act of Borràs.
Now it is up to the parliamentary bodies to implement the decision. In the precedents of Torra and Juvillà, the Electoral Board sent the request to withdraw the credentials of the then presidents of the institution, Roger Torrent in 2020 and Borràs herself in 2022, having ignored the first resolution.
In parallel to the meeting of the JEC, held in Congress, the Catalan Chamber, at the same time, was debating two proposals to reform the Parliament's regulations, one of which could affect Borràs: that of the Catalan socialists. The PSC proposed that the president of the institution or any member of the Bureau can be dismissed if two parliamentary groups or a fifth of the deputies request it and then the Chamber agrees by an absolute majority in a plenary vote. Had the modification advocated by those of Salvador Illa been approved, a path would have been enabled to remove Borràs from the presidency of the Chamber, which has been in an interim situation since last July.
In any case, the amendment to the totality that Junts per Catalunya presented to the proposal was approved with 75 votes in favor, 41 against and 14 abstentions, so the initiative that the Socialists registered after the condemnation of Borràs and his refusal to resigning has remained a dead letter.
Even so, the debate served as a pretext for various groups to charge once again, for refusing to step aside, against the Junts leader, who was present in the chamber, in the guest box, as usual since It was suspended.
At the same time, another proposal was debated to reform the regulations of the Chamber, which was promoted by the ERC and the CUP and foresees, among other issues, regulating telematic voting – in such a way that the members of the Table are not left in a bind after the rulings of the Constitutional Court on the delegated vote of ex-minister Lluís Puig–. This measure will continue its course in the parliamentary process.
With all these ingredients, the change in the presidency of the Chamber will be addressed, foreseeably, in the middle of the electoral campaign of the municipal elections on May 28 or just before it starts, an aspect that can add complexity to the matter.
