The Table considers Lluís Puig's vote valid

The Bureau of the Parliament, where there is a pro-independence majority, has considered Lluís Puig's delegate vote valid in today's plenary session, although it has been done out loud and not in the electronic system, in such a way that it has not involved no official on the ballot, for now.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
06 July 2022 Wednesday 05:58
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The Table considers Lluís Puig's vote valid

The Bureau of the Parliament, where there is a pro-independence majority, has considered Lluís Puig's delegate vote valid in today's plenary session, although it has been done out loud and not in the electronic system, in such a way that it has not involved no official on the ballot, for now.

This Wednesday, after the control session, the governing body of the Catalan Chamber and the board of spokespersons met, where the pro-independence majority has knocked down the requests for reconsideration of the agreement adopted yesterday by the Table to try to count the vote of the former Minister of Culture, although the institution already received yesterday the notification from the Constitutional Court (TC) annulling its proxy vote.

The spokesperson for Vox, Joan Garriga, has announced just as the plenary session began that his group has submitted a request for reconsideration so that the Table reviews the decision and the deputy of Ciudadanos Nacho Martín Blanco has directly requested that the plenary session be suspended to know the opinion of the lawyers.

The TC annulled the delegation of Puig's vote but this Tuesday the pro-independence majority of the Table, with the rejection of the PSC, agreed to keep him and assume its consequences. The five members of JxCat, ERC and the CUP agreed that they will try to maintain the delegation with all "legal and political effects".

At the meeting it was agreed that electronic voting would be used today, except for the Puig delegation. In this way, it is intended to protect officials who have not had to publish it on electronic screens or activate any mechanism. Although it remains to be seen

In the plenary session, what was planned was fulfilled, and Borràs announced that the direction of Puig's vote will be counted. But that does not mean that the vote is counted later when the plenary agreements are published in the publishing department. For this procedure there is still no closed agreement, although there is the will of the independence movement to continue with the issue.

At yesterday's meeting, the possibility of assuming all the functions of the Chamber's workers was considered, as was done in 2017, but the legal services warned of criminal consequences and the scenario was ruled out. This Wednesday, sources consulted indicated that the scenario could be different, but nothing has yet materialized nor has it been specified what will be done.

Table sources predict that this matter will end like that of Pau Juvillà, although they are different issues. In this sense, Junts per Catalunya has assured that he will assume all the consequences, instead, ERC and the CUP accuse Borràs of returning to "playing with symbolism so as not to disobey", as happened with the Juvillà case. This was the situation yesterday, when there was no agreement to reach the end, although Republicans and anti-capitalists had been in favor.

In this regard, the affected former minister, who has lived in Brussels since 2017, has been convinced that the independentistas will be able to resist this attack and that this Wednesday he will be able to delegate his vote. "It will be different because we have learned from his case" Puig said in an interview in Ser referring to the Juvillà case. The deputy has appealed to the unity of the three pro-independence parties to face today's plenary session: "the pro-independence supporters will be able to resist this attack".

Garriga has asked for the floor at the beginning of the session to ask the Table to carefully read article 95 of the regulation that establishes the criteria by which a deputy can request the delegation of a vote. "Puig is neither pregnant nor sick," he added. And shortly after the PPC has announced that they have also registered a request for reconsideration for the same issue.

For his part, Martín Blanco lamented the "cacicada" and requested the suspension of the plenary session, alleging that his group wants to know the opinion of the chamber's lawyers. "It is an attack on the rule of law and democracy," he added.

President Borràs has responded that the Board, meeting yesterday, agreed by majority and listening to the indications of the senior lawyer, Miquel Palomares, to maintain Puig's voting delegation. And confirming that Vox has registered the request for reconsideration, she has said that the Table will meet again this morning. A step that must be taken whenever a parliamentary group asks the Bureau to reconsider a decision.

At the request of a PSC appeal, the TC annulled the agreement of March 25 of last year of the Table that admitted Puig's request to delegate his vote. It also annuls the agreement of the Table the following day that confirmed the delegation of votes. But that agreement is not the one that is now in force. Puig's voting delegation fell to Gemma Geis, who left the seat a few weeks after being appointed Minister of Research and Universities. Then, the delegation passed into the hands of the JxCat spokesperson, Mònica Sales. This second delegation is the one that is currently in force.