The basics of the so-called Council for the RepublicThe body, led by Carles Puigdemont from Waterloo (Belgium), issued a verdict: ‘no’ to the investiture of Pedro Sánchez as President of the Government. However, despite the fact that the decision of the military of this supposed republican government in exile is binding, Puigdemont has a mechanism at his disposal to avoid the outcome of the consultation. As long as he is right, the former president can “deviate” from what was decided.
To vote in the Consell consultations, you must first pay. The minimum is 20 euros a year, plus another 12 if you want to receive the Catalan ID, a symbolic document issued by Puigdemont’s organ. Now, there are 90,484 members of the Consell with the right to vote. But what they approve or reject in these popular consultations may come to pass—or not.
The latest of these consultations put Puigdemont in a particular situation: 75% of his base, at least those who voted, positioned themselves against the Consell, which represents the leader of the Junts, which made Sánchez president in the upcoming investiture vote. The difficulty is not due to the fact that the talks held so far between PSOE and Junts, with amnesty and self-determination on the table, could derail this vote. This is due to the fact that they will force Puigdemont to distance himself from what was approved by the base, explaining to those 90,000 members that his decisions are little more than symbolic. Wet paper.
Binding, with one exception
The internal laws of the Consell por la República include the Code of Consultation Mechanisms and other participatory processes that govern this type of question. A regulation that outlines not only the necessary conditions for this investment consultation with Sánchez to take place but also what will happen afterward. The level of connection that Puigdemont’s team has, where the MEP is also integrated with Tony Comin—also admitted by the Spanish justice system—when it comes to complying with this obstruction of inquiry Simply put, they are required to comply, but they are not.
It is set in point 2 of Article 44 of this code, which determines how to manage the results of the consultation. “It’s binding, and the Consell must rule on its effect within three months of its celebration,” the text says before giving way to a small letter: “However, the Government, in Consell, may deviate from the result of the consultation with reasons justified, which is in contradiction with the Government’s plan. In other words, if the blockade goes against Puigdemont’s plans, there will be no blockade.
The results
The question of this consultation is the following: “Should the Council of the Republic promote the blocking of the investiture of the president of the State of Spain by the Catalan independence parties?”
They participated in this consultation with 4.021 people from the secessionist entity, from a census of 90,484. In other words, you just voted for 4.45% of partners. The final results were as follows: 74.9% voted yes, 24.9% voted ‘no’, and 0.2% voted blank.
The association led by Carles Puigdemont has assured that it will announce the results of this consultation “immediately” to the separatist parties in Congress: ERC and COMPANIONS.
