The socialist response to the impeachment of Quim Torra: Spain descends to Chavismo

@ElentirENG ES 1·04·2020 · 6:48 0

This Friday there have been a series of events that show to what extent Spain is suffering a serious political crisis, caused no less than by its acting government.

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The Electoral Board required Torra to respect the neutrality of the institutions

To find the origin of the events that occurred yesterday, we must go back to March 11, 2019, when, following a complaint from the party Ciudadanos, the Central Electoral Board (JEC) issued its agreement 55/2019, requiring "the President of the Government of Catalonia to order within a maximum period of 48 hours the immediate withdrawal of the 'stelled' flags or yellow ties that can be found in any public building under the Generalitat of Catalonia", reminding him "the obligation of the public authorities to strictly maintain neutrality politics during electoral processes." Catalan regional president Quim Torra openly disobeyed this requirement, after which the party Vox took him to court for a crime of disobedience.

A court convicted him of disobedience: Torra himself admitted the crime

During the trial, Torra himself openly admitted that he had disobeyed the JEC, stating that "the Central Electoral Board is not an organ hierarchically superior to the president of the Generalitat" [Catalan Government]. Torra believes above all state institutions, laws and judicial sentences, an openly undemocratic attitude, since the concept of democracy itself implies that all power is limited in the exercise of its functions by rules of coexistence that affect us all. On December 19, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) condemned Torra for a crime of disobedience.

The effects of the sentence: Torra cannot be elected or ruler

The judgment (see PDF) clearly indicates that one of the effects of the conviction is the "SPECIAL DISQUALIFICATION for the exercise of elective public office, whether local, autonomous, state or European, as well as for the performance of duties of government at the local, regional and state levels, for a period of ONE (1) YEAR AND SIX (6) MONTHS." That same day, Torra said: "I can only be disabled by the Parlament", evidencing once again that he believes above any law or sentence, an attitude of a tyrant and incompatible with democratic approaches. No ruler is above the laws and Justice.

The Central Electoral Board applies the ruling of the TSJC and dismisses Torra

It should be remembered that Article 6.2 of the Electoral Law (LOREG) points out in point b) that those "convicted by sentence, even if not firm, for crimes of rebellion, terrorism, against the Public Administration or against the Institutions are ineligible of the State when it has established the penalty of disqualification for the exercise of the right of passive suffrage or that of absolute or special disqualification or suspension for employment or public office in the terms provided in criminal law." In the Criminal Code, the crimes of disobedience are included in Chapter III of Title XIX, dedicated to "Crimes against Public Administration." Thus, according to the law, Torra must be dismissed. The Popular Party, Vox and Ciudadanos requested the application of the judgement to the Provincial Electoral Board, but that Board rejected the request. The three parties appealed that decision, and yesterday the JEC gave them the reason, dictating the dismissal of Torra in application of the ruling of the TSJC for which he was disqualified.

Torra declares himself in absentia and challenges the Electoral Board

What we have seen so far is what should be normal in any country in which a politician skips the laws: his dismissal by judicial means. But it is seen that Quim Torra believes that democracy consists in choosing the ruler so that he later does what he wants. And it is that as it already did before the resolution of the JEC and before the judgement of the TSJC, yesterday Torra replied to the JEC saying that only the Catalan Parliament can dismiss him. It seems that this individual does not realize the seriousness of his actions, because with that positioning he is openly declaring himself in rebellion, incurring again in another crime of disobedience.

One of the possible communist ministers of Pedro Sánchez insults the judges

In case it was not serious enough that an autonomous president believes him above the law and judicial sentences, yesterday one of the partners of the Socialist Party (PSOE), the communist Alberto Garzón, coordinator of the United Left, attacked the Justice with this embarrassing message:

(The Spanish right, through its reactionary judicial arm, disables Torra. The Spanish right, against democracy and against the results at the polls he doesn't like. We have a very serious problem with the high levels of the judiciary in Spain.)

That one of the allies of the PSOE is launched to insult the judges is already quite serious, but the last straw is that this individual has been targeted as one of the ministers who will have the far left in the new Spanish government. It is well known that the referents of the Spanish communists are Castro's Cuba and Chávez Venezuela, dictatorships in which the judges are subject to the boot of a political power that knows no more limits than their whims.

The Socialist Party delegitimizes the Electoral Board

The dome of the PSOE had a good opportunity to call to order his future colleague in the Council of Ministers. Instead, yesterday afternoon Adriana Lastra, deputy secretary general of the PSOE, appeared before the media with a funeral face (perhaps for fear that the disqualification of Torra and also that of Junqueras has repercussions on the vote of ERC separatists in the investiture session of Pedro Sánchez that starts today Saturday), and she did so to delegitimize the Central Electoral Board and deny that it is competent, when what the JEC has done is limited to applying a ruling from the TSJC, the aforementioned that disables Torra as a public office:

(@Adrilastra: We have serious doubts that the Central Electoral Board is competent to adopt these agreements. It is an administrative body, it is not a court and we hope that the Supreme Court will answer this question as soon as possible.)

That this has been published by the official Twitter account of the PSOE makes it clear that this Lastra statement is the official position of that party. This is very serious. That the PSOE is launching to delegitimize a state institution because it applies a judicial ruling is something that dangerously brings it closer to the ways of Venezuelan Chavism, just as it is that a communist insults the judges and attacks judicial independence, simply because JEC has done something that is not to his liking. That the PSOE is willing to appoint this guy as minister is the height of shame for Spain, just as it is that the PSOE has signed with the ERC separatists a pact that threatens the unity and sovereignty of Spain and the Constitution.

This is how Venezuelan Chavismo began to establish its dictatorship

What we are suffering at the moment in Spain are not mere outbursts of extremist politicians or punctual abuses of rulers with complete despots. What is being prepared is a full-fledged assault on democracy, so that no judge or public official dares to do anything that displeases the PSOE and its allies, even if that means breaking the law. Years ago in Venezuela - and this is known by any Galician like me who has had relatives emigrated there - they also did not believe that their country could degenerate to what we now see, but it happened. The steps that socialists and communists are taking in Spain are alarmingly similar to those taken by the chavists in Venezuela, with the purpose of emptying the rule of law content and that the government's will have no limits.

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Photo: La Moncloa. A meeting between the president of the Spanish Government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, and the president of the regional Government of Catalonia, Quim Torra, on July 9, 2018.