Spanish PM threatens legal action against proxy vote decision

Spanish president Mariano Rajoy has threatened legal action in response to the parliament bureau’s decision to allow an MP fighting extradition in Brussels to delegate his vote in the Catalan chamber. “We will study all legal action so as to prevent decisions that go against the current law,” he told the press on Tuesday. Former minister Toni Comín joins deposed president Carles Puigdemont in being allowed to cast his parliamentary vote by proxy.

Yet, Rajoy insisted that letting Comín vote in the chamber from Brussels “makes no sense” and he said the priority is to “recover political, economic and social normality” in Catalonia. Later in the day, the Catalan branch of Rajoy’s People’s Party issued an official appeal in the Catalan parliament, asking the bureau to reconsider its decision on the basis that it goes against parliamentary regulations.

Proxy vote “not for fugitives,” says Cs

Meanwhile, the head of the unionist Cs party, Albert Rivera, called on Rajoy to challenge the bureau’s decision in the Constitutional Court. On Twitter, Rivera pointed out that delegating votes is reserved for illness or unavoidable absence “and not for fugitives from justice.” At the same time, the head of the Catalan branch of the Cs party, Inés Arrimadas, called on the Spanish government to “wake up” and “act” against the decision.