The elections will not move from February 14. The Superior Prosecutor’s Office of Catalonia has positioned itself within the open administrative dispute in the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) against the decree of the Generalitat that postponed the elections until the end of May due to the health crisis derived from the coronavirus.
In its brief before the court, the Public Ministry considers that the current situation of pandemic and health crisis, pre-existing, as has been said, both to the electoral call and to its subsequent suspension and postponement, as stated in the health reports provided by the autonomic administration, it is the same one that pre-existed on the date of the initial call.
That is why they emphasize that the only novelty is a significant increase in the number of infections typical of the high variability of the pandemic which, as the repeated court order indicates was notoriously predictable at the time elections were called.
The Prosecutor’s Office details that the health reports of the Generalitat already state that the risk situation on election day can be prevented by adopting and executing different prophylactic measures to prevent contagions such as safety distances, use of masks, gels, gloves and face shields.
Thus, the prosecutor urges the administration to adopt them so that voting can be done along with taking the temperature of polling station members and voters, pre-established voting hours for voters in vulnerable situations. safety distance, installation of ventilation devices, or promotion of vote by mail among others.
In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office considers that the situation of electoral postponement in Catalonia is not comparable to that of Galicia and the Basque Country last year since they had to be postponed as they were in a state of alarm and with total restriction of mobility.
It also points out that the electoral regulations do not contemplate the possibility of suspending or postponing elections that have been called and that the competence to call the elections corresponds to the president of the Generalitat but does not have to postpone them.
The prosecutor’s report indicates that failure to comply with these electoral regulations and the Statute would generate a legal and institutional abnormality that can last indeterminately.
He adds that if there is a superior interest that forces to suspend the elections because they are unviable in the face of the health situation, it would be necessary to give it a normative coverage, articulating in accordance with the Constitution and the laws the exceptional measures that may be essential.
