Catalan parliament speaker delays Puigdemont leadership debate

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Roger Torrent, speaker of the Catalan regional assembly, announced on Tuesday morning that he was postponing the investiture debate to elect a new regional leader which was due to start later in the day.

The decision comes amidst the confusion over how the only candidate, Carles Puigdemont, could be sworn in.

Puigdemont is currently in exile in Belgium facing charges of rebellion, sedition, disobedience and misuse of public funds and faces immediate arrest if he returns to Spain.

The Spanish Constitutional Court on Saturday ruled he could only be sworn in if he was present at the debate and could not be invested by video-link.

Roger Torrent, Speaker of Catalonia's regional Parliament, chairs a meeting at parliament in Barcelona, Spain, January 30, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Announcing his decision to suspend the debate, Torrent insisted Puigdemont had "every right to be invested" as Catalan leader and that he was delaying the debate "in order to guarantee" the debate could go ahead "without interference."

Torrent refused to give a new date for the investiture and would only say that it will be held when "a debate with guarantees" could take place.

Earlier in the day, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy commented in an interview on Spanish state TV network RTVE, that the Catalan regional assembly should "accept the law and return to social, institutional and economic reality."

He also said Puigdemont was not "in the jungle," and that he can't become Catalan leader as a "fugitive."

Puigdemont moved to Belgium shortly after Catalonia's parliament declared independence in October and faces arrest if he returns to Spain.

Source(s): AFP