Spain's Central Electoral Commission (JEC) has once again gone ahead and acted on its own, and has dismissed the appeals made by the Parliament of Catalonia and Laura Borràs, deciding thus to withdraw the parliamentary seat of the suspended speaker after her conviction in the High Court of Catalonia (TSJC) for abuse of authority and document falsification. As the newspaper ABC reported and sources from the JEC have confirmed to ElNacional.cat, the electoral body will communicate the decision to the Junts leader this Thursday with all the details.
In this way, the administrative body applies the same criteria it used to withdraw the seats of former Catalan president Quim Torra and former MP Pau Juvillà, both convicted of disobedience. It interprets that Borràs's seat must be removed under article 6.2 b) of Spain's Electoral Law (LOREG) for having been convicted in a non-final sentence for abuse of authority, a crime against the public administration, and receiving a penalty of disqualification from elected public office.
Specifically, the article states that "those convicted, even if the appeal process is not complete, for crimes of rebellion, terrorism, crimes against the public administration or against state institutions, are ineligible, when the sentence has established the penalty of a ban from standing for elected office or a ban on holding public office". This implies, in the judgment of the JEC, that Borràs is affected by "subsequent ineligibility", and hence her sentence and her exercise of the status of an MP are incompatible.
Decision taken, but not communicated
The Spanish body leaked its decision on Borràs despite the fact that at this Wednesday's meeting the judges and academics of the JEC decided that they would draft and communicate the agreements on Thursday. The members of the body started the meeting at 5:30pm and the number of matters to rule on, as a result of the municipal and community elections, meant that the publication of the resolutions would take longer than usual. Three hours later, the body left the table and left the drafting of the full Borràs decision to Thursday. A week ago, the JEC began its weekly meeting at 1pm and the eight agreements it reached were published after 8pm.
Even so, Borràs's future as an MP is already decided after the rejection of the appeals of both Junts and Parliament, who defended her with similar arguments. The defence lawyer of the suspended speaker maintained that the JEC was "manifestly incompetent" to decide on her status as an MP and that, without a final court ruling on the table, she had no appeal to make about the withdrawal of her seat. In the statement of appeals, lawyers Gonzalo Boye and Isabel Elbal denounced that Borràs had suffered "violation of rights".
"The electoral administration is manifestly incompetent to pass judgement on deputies in the Parliament of Catalonia or any other legislative assembly," stated the text. In addition, it criticised Ciudadanos and Vox for having brought the case to the administrative body because "they lack the status of interested parties to initiate this procedure". As set out in the Catalan Parliament's regulations, the Borràs legal team recalled she could only lose her seat based on "a final judicial ruling". The TSJC resolution is awaiting the pronouncement of the Supreme Court.
The Catalan Parliament's arguments went along the same lines. The Bureau, with the PSC voting against, argued before the administrative body that, according to article 24 of the Catalan chamber's regulations, an MP can only lose her seat if there is a final judgment, and that in the case of Borràs, there does not exist one. Moreover, the parliamentary body defended the Junts leader's seat arguing that Borràs was already suspended from her rights and duties when sent to trial and that, thus, the withdrawal of her seat was an "unnecessary" and "disproportionate" measure.