Discrepancies in the pro-independence bloc over plenary suspension

Source from Puigdemont’s candidacy states they had not been informed about Parliament president’s move

MPs during the opening session of the Catalan Parliament (by Elisenda Rosanas)
MPs during the opening session of the Catalan Parliament (by Elisenda Rosanas) / ACN

ACN | Catalan Parliament (Barcelona)

January 30, 2018 01:51 PM

Everyone in the Catalan Parliament is still waiting. The chamber’s president, Roger Torrent, announced a postponement of the investiture debate early on Tuesday, waiting for the Spanish Constitutional Court to take a final decision on Puigdemont’s bid to be reinstated as Catalan leader. The judges started a meeting on Wednesday at 1pm. While waiting for either the judges or Torrent himself to make a move, all groups in the chamber had their say. But, most notably, the pro-independence parties did not share a unanimous vision on the postponement.

Torrent’s party, Esquerra Republicana, welcomed the decision. Its jailed president, Oriol  Junqueras said via Twitter that the Parliament’s president guaranteed “the defense of the rights of all the democratically elected MPs.” His Twitter profile is managed by his team. 

Yet sources of Puigdemont’s candidacy, Together for Catalonia (JxCat), complained about not having been “informed” about Torrent’s intentions to postpone the session. Esquerra, though, argued that Torrent tried to reach the deposed Catalan president over the phone unsuccessfully. In any case, JxCat said that there was still time to hold the session on Tuesday as it was originally planned.