Catalan Parliament lawyers have this Monday released a report rejecting the delegation of the votes of the JxCat deputies facing trial. According to the lawyers, the party's plan doesn't fit with a resolution passed in plenary session last week. They conclude that any such votes "are vulnerable to being invalidated".
The report, requested by the Parliament's speaker, Roger Torrent, at the request of PSC, says that the text JxCat gave the Parliament's governing Board merely informs them "that the spokesperson of the parliamentary group of Junts per Catalunya will continue voting in representation of the indicated deputies".
They warn that "the legal effectiveness of the parliamentary acts in which the indicated deputies might take part is seriously affected and they are vulnerable to being invalidated".
The report emphasises that if a deputy "isn't expressly substituted by another, they cannot exercise the right to vote by delegation, as this possibility, previously attributed [to them] in the order of 9th July 2018, doesn't currently function". As such, they say that "if the delegation is used, it won't be possible to count it validly".
Finally, they warn that the Board's decision this Monday to ratify the delegated votes of Carles Puigdemont, in exile, and Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull, in prison, could be appealed to the Constitutional Court. Indeed, PSC has already presented such an appeal.
The lawyers had already said in person, in meetings with the Board last Thursday and just today, that they were opposed to JxCat's suggestion. Now, their formal report will be debated this Tuesday at 12 noon in another Board meeting. It should be noted that it is only advisory. The final word, therefore, falls to Torrent, who will have to decide if he will accept their votes as valid in this Tuesday's plenary session or not.
According to JxCat, the agreement, so far, still stands, despite the disagreements over the matter over the last week and the crisis it sparked within the government.