Spain's interior ministry has fired the director of the Institute of Public Security of Catalonia, Annabel Marcos, for having transported hidden ballot boxes in her car to polling stations on 1st October last year, during the independence referendum. The ministry took this decision by virtue of the powers granted it under the implementation of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution whereby it has control over police in Catalonia.
The firing was announced after newspaper El Español published that the director had transported ballot boxes hidden in her Seat Altea. According to the paper, it was the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's police force, who found a vehicle that day, confirmed it was her driving and that she was carrying at least one ballot box. The patrol which wrote the report were not aware, however, that she was the highest-ranking official for the force's training centre.
The report published by El Español state that the director delivered one ballot box at the start of the day, and removed it from the centre later, the police being prevented from confiscating it by the crowd.
According to interior ministry sources, the firing was carried out using the powers they were awarded under article 155 of the Constitution and on the premise of "guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of all the citizens of Catalonia", "safeguarding the compliance with principles described in the Constitution and [Catalonia's] Statute [of Autonomy]" and "the absolute recognition of the professionality" of the Mossos agents.
Marcos was a deputy from January 2011 to September 2015 for former party Convergència in the Catalan Parliament and has been director of the Institute of Public Security of Catalonia since 1st March 2016. Since 2010, she had led the research team of the Observatory of Coalition Governments, formed by some twenty researchers from Catalonia, Spain and Latin America.