Madrid's Efforts to Prevent Puigdemont's Re-election as Leader of Catalonia

On Friday, the Spanish government requested the country's Constitutional Court to stop Carlos Puigdemont's bid to lead Catalonia again. Mr. Puigdemont, who is accused of organizing an illegal referendum and declaring Catalonia's independence, is currently in Belgium in voluntary exile. His actions led Mariano Rajoy, the Prime Minister of Spain, to remove him from the presidency of the Catalan government. However, Mr. Puigdemont has stated that if the central government of Spain respects the election results, he will still be the head of the Catalan government. According to the Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, the government is seeking to legally prevent Carlos Puigdemont from participating in political activities in Catalonia. Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, on Friday after the government's official request to the Constitutional Court, said: 'The government must use all available legal and constitutional tools to ensure that a fugitive from the law cannot be sworn in again as the head of the regional government.' This statement was met with a swift response from Carlos Puigdemont on Twitter, where he said that Spanish government officials are afraid to confront the 'will of the people.' Despite the central government's warnings about Puigdemont's re-election, Roger Torrent, the newly elected president of the Catalan Parliament, nominated Mr. Puigdemont as the only leader of the region on Monday. Carlos Puigdemont has not ruled out his return to Barcelona for the local parliament voting but has also not expressed readiness to attend this meeting.