Electoral authority denies jailed leader's request to stand in election

Spain's electoral authority has refused the Esquerra Republicana (ERC) party's request to include jailed leader Oriol Junqueras on its list of candidates for Sunday’s general election.

ERC submitted the request to the authority after the Supreme Court put his ban from public office on hold while his case is heard in the European Court of Justice. 

The authority argued that Junqueras is legally ineligible to stand because the judgment on the ERC head is final and he is already serving the 13-year term he was sentenced to.

Additionally, the authority said that the period for modifying the list of candidates put forward by ERC has passed, and therefore the list "cannot now be revised."

Public office ban part of sentence

Junqueras was barred from holding public office as part of his sentence after the Supreme Court found him guilty of sedition for his role in the 2017 independence bid.

The ERC leader is in a unique position among the political leaders jailed along with him because he was elected as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) in May. 

However, he has not been able to take his up seat in the European chamber, as the authorities did not let him leave prison to complete the process to officially become an MEP.

That has led to a legal row about whether Junqueras has parliamentary immunity, with the advocate general of the European Court of Justice due to give an opinion on November 12.