Catalan parliament to vote on new president, if Madrid allows it
Catalonia will choose a new president next week, though unless the leading candidate gets Madrid's permission to be released from prison the region could be back to square one.
Catalan assembly speaker Roger Torrent announced on Tuesday that the parliament will vote on the new president of the Generalitat on Monday 12 March.
Torrents proposed Jordi Sánchez, leader of the Junts per Catalunya party, as candidate but it was unclear if he will be elected.
Sánchez is currently in jail awaiting a trial on charges of rebellion and sedition since October’s illegal referendum and unilateral declaration of independence.
In December's second election of 2017, the unionist Ciudadanos party became the biggest party, with 37 seats, but three pro-independence parties, led by Junts, won a majority of 70 of the 135 seats and have formed a coalition.
Sánchez’s lawyer will have to ask the Supreme Court for permission for Sánchez to return to parliament. If the Supreme Court magistrate says no, the parliament would find themselves in the same situation as they did with Carles Puigdemont, who is in exile in Brussels after being blocked from going for a second term by Madrid.
Sánchez will, like Puigdi, have problems securing votes since some of the secessionist leaders are exiled in Brussels and cannot vote and the far-left party CUP has said it would abstain. If Sanchez does not get elected there could be another vote later next week or later in the month.
Previous president Puigdemont pulled back from a bid for a second term and is currently in exile in Belgium after declaring the independence of the region. Spanish police have been ordered to arrest him if he returns to Spain.
The Spanish central government has said it will keep Catalonia under direct rule through the article 155 if the secessionist parties that won the 21 December elections choose a candidate who was under investigation.