Laura Borràs will lose the act of deputy of the Parliament of Catalonia after the Central Electoral Board (JEC) has notified the institution this afternoon that it has revoked her credentials due to her conviction in the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia, although in the Chamber catalana that decision has not yet been staged and there is still a page to be written.
The resolution also includes the issuance of the credential of the next member of the JxCat list, the former deputy Antoni Castellà, and is firm and executive. The effects of this unforeseen ineligibility, the reason why Borràs's seat is withdrawn, "produce automatically from the conviction of the parliamentarian, limiting the Chamber or the electoral Administration to his declaration and to adopt the consequences that arise from it" , points out the JEC. Even so, the file related to this matter is not yet considered closed because both the Parliament and the affected person will submit an appeal to the Supreme Court against the resolution of the administrative body and the matter has not yet been formalized in parliamentary bodies.
Thus, after the plenary session has decided with the votes in favor of the groups of Esquerra, Junts and the CUP -the rest of the formations have ruled against-, the institution will request the Contentious-administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court precautionary measures to nullify the decision of the electoral referee. The leader of Junts, for her part, will ask for very precautionary measures, which must be resolved even more urgently than the precautionary ones.
Although the decision to withdraw the seat of the leader sentenced to four and a half years in prison and 13 years of disqualification for the crimes of document falsification and prevarication, as planned, was adopted at the meeting of the administrative body that took place yesterday, Wednesday in the afternoon, it was not until this afternoon when the Catalan Chamber received the notification. The Parliamentary Bureau met just after the emergency and with the votes of the members of ERC, Junts and the CUP it has been agreed, at the proposal of the vice president of the Chamber acting as president, the republican Alba Vergés, to present the appeal and that the plenary ratify the provisions of the governing body.
Both Borràs and Vergés had argued before the electoral referee that he lacks the power to revoke a Parliament credential, but the Electoral Board dismissed his argument, as they did in previous cases such as that of former president Quim Torra and former CUP deputy Pau Juvilla. In fact, in both cases appeals have already been submitted to the Supreme Court and have been rejected, so everything seems to indicate that the same will happen with Borràs.
Taking into account that the president of Junts has been suspended as a deputy since July, in application of the institution's regulations, it will not be seen that her seat has been withdrawn until it is published in the Official Gazette of the Parliament of Catalonia (BOPC) and a debate and a vote are called to elect a new president. The presidency of the Chamber is in an unprecedented situation of interim since July.
In accordance with the precedents, if the parliamentary bodies do not act in accordance with the resolution of the Electoral Board, Vergés will receive a requirement from the administrative body to comply with its decision. This has already happened with Roger Torrent in 2020 and with Borràs herself in 2022, although she had promised to maintain the seat of the former anti-capitalist parliamentarian. If that moment is reached, there will be no more travel, at least in Parliament.
In the ERC and in the CUP they have distanced themselves from the situation of Borràs, already in the summer they were wet in favor of his suspension and they have asked him to step back several times, but both formations have voted in favor of the appeal to "defend the sovereignty" of the Chamber. "The case of Juvillà and that of Mrs. Borràs have nothing to do with each other, one is of a political nature and the other is a conviction for prevarication and false documentation," said the CUP deputy, who has reproached Borràs for waiting that the Parliament do with her what she did not do with Juvillà. The ERC spokesman, Jordi Orobitg, has spoken in similar terms and has asked the Junts leader to step back.
Thus, the debate has once again encouraged the groups to criticize the leader of JxCat. The commons have also differentiated the case of Juvillà from that of Borràs. "Let's not give the presidency back to Junts per Catalunya", asked David Cid, questioning the rest of the "progress" forces. For its part, Ciudadanos has announced that it will file a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office against the members of the Bureau who have voted in favor of filing the appeal. The PP has dedicated its intervention to reading the emails of the cause that incriminated the also former Minister of Culture.
