Carles Puigdemont, Junts candidate
Carles Puigdemont will be able to be the Junts candidate on May 12, as he was already in the elections of December 2017 and February 2021, but he will not be able to return to Catalonia until the Supreme Court has applied amnesty to him and have guarantees that he will not be arrested. He will be able to lead Junts’ candidacy because he is not disqualified or fulfills any of the requirements set out in the electoral law that prevent him from choosing to be eligible as a deputy.
The possibility of being president
Now, will he be able to be in Parliament on the day of the investiture session if he has the support to be president? This is the big question, difficult to solve because one thing is what the law says and the other is the room for maneuver of the judges. The literalness of the text, approved this Thursday in Congress, suggests that it is.
The amnesty for Puigdemont
In principle, yes, because the judges must apply it within a maximum period of two months from its entry into force at the end of May and, in an ‘immediate’ manner, they must lift the active precautionary measures and that they could have him arrested if he enters Spain. Puigdemont will not be able to campaign normally, as happened to him in 2017 and 2021, but if the law is applied as it is drafted, he should be able to be in Catalonia when the president has to be voted for.
Arrest warrants
Puigdemont, as of now, is involved in the cause of 1-O – for embezzlement and disobedience – and in the cause of Democratic Tsunami – for terrorism. Neither cause prevents him from being a candidate, but he cannot return because he has a national arrest warrant for Pablo Llarena for the 1-O cause. This should cease once the amnesty comes into effect.
The possibility of being president without returning to Catalonia
If Puigdemont wants to aspire to be president he will have to return to Catalonia. The Constitutional Court does not prevent a deputy from being outside Catalonia, but you cannot be president without being in Parliament on the day of the investiture.
The European elections
One of the issues that Puigdemont will have to clarify in the coming weeks is whether or not he will stand in the European elections. If he wants to keep the immunity offered to him by the European Parliament, he will have to keep his place in the European Chamber, but if he wants to be credible when he says he will return to Catalonia to be president, he will not be able to stand in the European elections in June.
