The Electoral Commission of Barcelona has declared vacant president Quim Torra's seat in the Catalan Parliament. It follows a decision by Spain's Supreme Court this morning supporting the Central Electoral Commission's order suspending him as a member of Parliament. It does not mean his automatic removal as president. In a statement released this afternoon, they order parliamentary credentials to be prepared for the next candidate on JxCat's electoral list, Ferran Mascarell, former Catalan government delegate to Madrid.
The Commission took the decision in a meeting this afternoon, finding it has no power to suspend a ruling by its Spain-wide equivalent, "even less so when the Supreme Court" refused to do so this morning. The members had previously decided not to suspend Torra as a member of Parliament in response to an appeal by right-wing parties PP and Cs. That appeal ended up in Madrid which found in favour of the parties, returning the question to Barcelona today.
The speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, announced earlier that he won't pay attention to the Supreme Court and that he still considers Torra to be a delegate. As for the president himself, in a speech from the government palace, said he remains president and doesn't recognise "the effects" of the Supreme Court's ruling.