Puigdemont files lawsuit against Spanish electoral authority

Carles Puigdemont, the exiled Catalan president, will take part in the European election after successfully challenging the electoral authority’s original decision to bar him from his party’s list. But his clash with the body regulating all elections in Spain does not end here. Junts, his political group, filed a lawsuit against two members of the Spanish electoral board for a breach of official duty, accusing them of “partiality” and “hostility” against him.

The lawsuit also says that the two members of the body, Andrés Betancor and Carlos Vidal, had been “previously contaminated by their ideological and political beliefs.” Betancor was proposed in Congress by unionist Ciutadans (Cs) party, while Vidal was put forth by the People’s Party (PP) – both parties have been challenging Puigdemont’s bid in the EU election.

The electoral authority accepted Cs and PP’s request to veto him, but a Spainish court overruled the decision and has allowed him and two other exiled leaders to take part in the vote.