The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of the president of Junts and former president of the Catalan Parliament, Laura Borràs, against the agreement of the Central Electoral Board that annulled her credential as a regional deputy after being convicted last March for corruption crimes. The Supreme Court concludes that the sentence imposed on him then – four and a half years in prison, 13 years of disqualification and a fine of 36,000 euros for falsification of an official document and administrative prevarication – entails the application of article 6.2.b) and article 4 of the General Electoral Law (LOREG) and are, therefore, incompatible with the performance of the position of deputy. It thus confirms the loss of the seat by Borràs.
The high court states that these articles of the electoral law respond to “the need for greater protection of public institutions, since contemporary society demands that the exercise of public positions on a representative basis not be carried out by those who have been criminally sentenced to prison. of special disqualification, regardless of the area of Public Administration in which the commission of the crime had taken place.”
The sentence that convicted Borràs in March 2023 considered it proven that the leader of Junts, when she directed the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes (ILC) between 2013 and 2018, illegally chopped up contracts to hand them over to a computer scientist who was a friend of hers. , Isaiah Herrero. The withdrawal of the seat is based on article 6.2.B of the LOREG, which establishes that those convicted by a sentence, even if not final, for crimes against the Public Administration are ineligible when the penalty of special disqualification for employment or public office, as was the case of Borràs. Although the sentence fell on the former president of the Parliament when she was already exercising the position for which she was elected, there is already consolidated jurisprudence of the Supreme Court that establishes that, in these cases, there is a “supervening ineligibility” that implies the loss of the seat . If she has assumed the representative position and during the exercise of the position she “suddenly” incurs a cause of ineligibility, it operates as a case of incompatibility and, therefore, dismissal, explains the court. It is the same argument that was applied to the former president of the Generalitat Quim Torra or the former deputy of Unidas Podemos Alberto Rodríguez to withdraw their deputies’ certificates.
“We are, therefore, not facing the invalidity of the election, but rather facing an impediment to continue exercising the elective position, after having acceded to the seat,” the court notes. Likewise, it indicates that there is no need for the intervention of the Parliament nor for its respective operating regulations to provide for such a cause of loss of the status of deputy due to sudden ineligibility. This cause can be appreciated by the Chamber itself; But, if they do not do so and “given their passivity”, the electoral Administration can act by directly applying the LOREG, the magistrates indicate. The Supreme Court also maintains that the withdrawal of the seat can be applied even if the sentence is not final (an appeal is pending before the high court), and also rules out questioning the “proportionality and legitimacy” of that measure.
Borràs’ conviction is one of those that has overshadowed the negotiations of the pact between PSOE and Junts for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, in which the president of the party has actively participated. Borràs’ crime has no link with the processes and, therefore, he was left out of the amnesty proposed by the socialists from the beginning, but Junts and Borràs herself allege that his conviction responds to a case of lawfare, an instrumentalization of justice for political purposes. “I have not been able to have a fair trial and, therefore, I have not been able to have a fair sentence,” denounced Borràs after being tried, to accuse the Catalan Superior Court of being “partial,” “politicized” and dedicated only to “defending unity.” from Spain”.
What affects the most is what happens closest. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe
Finally, Junts has achieved that the concept of lawfare is included in the political pact document signed with the PSOE, but not in the bill, so the president of the party will not be amnestied. However, in her conviction for prevarication and falsehood, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) asked the Government to grant her a partial pardon so that she does not go to prison.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#Supreme #Court #confirms #withdrawal #Laura #Borràs #seat