Spain’s Rajoy files legal claim to block Catalan split voting
By Bloomberg
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the government filed a lawsuit to block a Catalan government decision to hold a vote on independence.
"It's false that the right to vote can be assigned unilaterally to one region about a matter that affects all Spaniards," Rajoy told reporters at the government palace today in Madrid. "It's profoundly anti-democratic."
The Catalan leader signed a decree on Sept. 27 calling for a Nov. 9 vote as a non-binding consultation on independence for the region of about 7.5 million people in northeastern Spain. Rajoy says the vote is unconstitutional and that his government will use all the available legal tools to prevent it from going ahead.
Catalonian President Artur Mas and Rajoy are at loggerheads over whether the region can keep planning for the referendum if a court blocks the vote, as is expected by the Spanish government.
The regional administration will proceed with organizing the referendum, Mas said Sept. 27 in an interview with the Catalan government-owned TV3 station, which is also running advertisements about the vote. Rajoy's deputy, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, has said that if the Constitutional Court puts the vote on hold, any preparations must also be halted.
"The government should be ready to make the Nov. 9 vote possible," Mas said in the interview.
According to the Spanish constitution, if the Constitutional Court accepts the lawsuit for consideration, the law or decree subject to the claim is suspended when requested by the government.
Automatic Suspension
"Once it's suspended, there can't be any action to execute it" or "continue it," Saenz de Santamaria said on Sept. 27. "The suspension is automatic."
Catalonia's government has set up a website for the vote that includes a preliminary list of polling stations in the region and 14 foreign cities, including London, New York, Shanghai and Bogota.
Security for the vote will be provided by 6,000 regional police officers known as Mossos d'Esquadra and 3,200 local police, Catalonian Vice-President Joana Ortega said Sept. 27, TV3 reported. She said 10,800 ballot boxes will be ready next month, according to TV3's website.