High court provisionally suspends Catalan election delay

The Catalan high court (TSJC) has provisionally suspended the decree approved by the government pushing the upcoming election back from February 14 to May 30 over Covid-19 concerns.

The magistrates still have to make a final decision on the content of the decree – but while they deliberate, on Tuesday they moved to freeze the postponement.

This comes after several minor parties took the cabinet's move to court on Monday, as well as an individual who requested "urgent measures" to provisionally suspend it, something upheld by TSJC.

As announced by the TSJC on Twitter, a previous Catalan government decree setting the election for February 14 is now back in force, raising the possibility of the vote taking place as initially planned despite most parties agreeing to adjourn it.

The Catalan government resumed preparations to hold the vote on February 14, urged the TSJC to decide "promptly", and said it is confident it can defend the adjournment’s decree legal grounding.