The Supreme Court refuses to return to Borràs as a precautionary measure his act of deputy

The Supreme Court has denied the very precautionary suspension requested by the former president of Parliament Laura Borrás of the agreement of the Central Electoral Board, on May 3, which left her credentials as a deputy of the Parliament of Catalonia without effect after considering that there was a cause of unforeseen ineligibility after his criminal conviction by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
08 May 2023 Monday 05:24
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The Supreme Court refuses to return to Borràs as a precautionary measure his act of deputy

The Supreme Court has denied the very precautionary suspension requested by the former president of Parliament Laura Borrás of the agreement of the Central Electoral Board, on May 3, which left her credentials as a deputy of the Parliament of Catalonia without effect after considering that there was a cause of unforeseen ineligibility after his criminal conviction by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia.

The high court points out that Borrás's brief does not offer "any argument" to justify the urgency that requires a very precautionary suspension without hearing, in this case, the Central Electoral Board.

In the same order, the Chamber agrees to initiate an ordinary precautionary incident, granting the procedural representation of the Central Electoral Board and the Public Prosecutor a common term that will end at noon on Friday, May 12 to make allegations about the precautionary measure.

Regarding an appeal filed against the same agreement by the Parliament, which did not request the very precautionary suspension but the ordinary precautionary one, the Supreme Court has given the Central Electoral Board ten days for allegations before deciding on the precautionary measure.

The Central Electoral Board (JEC) decided last week 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 case provided for in article 6.2 B of the electoral regime law is given as they are crimes "against the Public Administration or against State Institutions", and they consider the credential of Borràs in addition to issuing the next one, that of Antoni Castellà.

The electoral referee follows the same script that he used in the precedents of Quim Torra and Pau Juvillà.

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.