Madrid court rejects Puigdemont lawsuit against electoral authority

A lawsuit filed by the Lliures Per Europa group of former president Carles Puigdemont against two members of Spain's electoral authority for a breach of official duty has been rejected by a Madrid court.

Puigdemont, who is standing in the European elections, successfully challenged the authority’s original decision to bar him from running, leading his lawyers to file the suit alleging “partiality” and “hostility” against him.

The decision to reject the suit can be appealed before the same court or in Madrid's provincial court of appeal.

The rejected lawsuit also alleged that the two members of the authority, Andrés Betancor and Carlos Vidal, had been “previously contaminated by their ideological and political beliefs.”

Betancor was proposed in Congress by the unionist Ciutadans (Cs) party, while Vidal was put forward by the People’s Party (PP) – both parties have been challenging Puigdemont’s bid in the EU election.

The electoral authority accepted Cs and PP's request to veto Puigdemont, but a Spanish court overruled the decision and allowed the former president and two other exiled leaders to stand for seats in Brussels.