The Catalan president in exile Carles Puigdemont has this Monday announced he will undertake legal action against Spain's Central Electoral Commission (JEC) after a Madrid court today overturned a commission ruling and allowed him and two of his ministers to stand as candidates in the European election on 26th May. Speaking to the program Tot es mou on Catalan public broadcaster TV3, the president said that "the JEC's abuse of the law cannot remain unpunished".
Puigdemont said that today's ruling by the Madrid court, following yesterday's decision by the Supreme Court, has returned everything to how "it should have been". He added that he had been surprised by the initial decision from the JEC to remove him as a candidate.
The president said the resolution showed they were in the right and did the right thing by presenting the appeals against the decisions blocking them from standing as candidates. He said that, once again, they had won against the state.
Asked whether he believes the conflict with the JEC has helped them with regards to the election, Puigdemont was unequivocal: he said that he doesn't believe the Commission, or PP or Cs, would have taken the decision in order to help his candidacy, even if he believes it does give them greater strength for the campaign.
That said, he also noted that it means they now have less time to prepare than other parties. As an example, he gave the logistical difficulties of printing and distributing millions of ballot slips in a reduced time frame.
Looking towards the election campaign, the president announced they want to send the message that they have the knowledge and experience to beat the state and that they want to put this knowledge and experience at the service of the public. He commented, however, that they would have preferred to dedicate the last few days to their campaign, and not saving it.