Image copyright AFP Image caption With the election of Roger Torrent as speaker, separatist MPs have control of Catalonia's parliament

Catalan MPs in Barcelona have elected a pro-independence speaker at their first meeting since Madrid dissolved the region's parliament.

The choice of Roger Torrent is the first step to reinstating local government.

Separatist parties, who remain dominant after December's election, want Carles Puigdemont to be president again.

But the ex-leader risks arrest if he returns from self-imposed exile in Belgium.

He is wanted by Spain on charges of rebellion and sedition over last year's independence drive.

And Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says Catalonia's autonomous powers will not be restored, if the regional parliament permits Mr Puigdemont to lead the government from exile.

Mr Rajoy took direct control of the region - sacking its leaders and dissolving its parliament - after Mr Puigdemont and his government declared independence in October.

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Separatist lawmakers secured control of parliament on Wednesday with the election of Mr Torrent, a member of the left-wing separatist ERC party.

He beat an anti-independence candidate by 65 votes to 56.

The session was broadcast to a flag-waving crowd outside.

ERC's leader, Oriol Junqueras, is among three Catalan MPs in prison awaiting trial over the independence push. But they were allowed to vote to select a parliamentary speaker via proxies.

Five others in self-imposed exile in Belgium did not assign proxies. Yellow ribbons were placed on their empty seats.

The MPs also met to select a board who will decide who gets the first chance to form a government. It will have two weeks to pick a president.

It is likely to nominate Mr Puigdemont to lead the region, and his supporters say he could potentially do so via video link from Belgium.

Mr Puigdemont's spokesman, Joan Maria Piqué, told the BBC's Gavin Lee that it was perfectly plausible for him to be president remotely. He pointed to how Donald Trump uses Twitter as a prime source of interaction in the US.

But lawyers for the Catalan parliament council, an advisory body, have said it would not be legal or within the Spanish constitution to allow for a president in exile.</s>"Roger Torrent is elected the president of the Catalan parliament of the twelfth term," the parliament said in a tweet.

Roger Torrent needs to choose a candidate to try to form a government by the end of the January. Parliament has to elect a new regional government by the end of the month.

Carles Puigdemont would have to get approval from Roger Torrent's committee to vote and be elected from abroad. The former head of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont fled to Belgium with four of his cabinet members.

​READ MORE: Catalonia to Remain Under Madrid's Control Until New Gov't Appointed — Rajoy

The Spanish prosecutor's office accuses Puigdemont in insurgency and embezzlement. The court issued a warrant for his arrest in case he returned to the country. The former leader of Catalonia can try to become the head of the autonomy remotely by video link or with the help of a representative. The Spanish government has assured that it will appeal to the court any violations when assuming the post of head of the autonomy.

Early parliamentary elections were held on December 21, most of the seats in the parliament were received by parties that favored the independence of the region from Spain.

In October, the Spanish government applied 155 article of the Spanish Constitution, which provides a number of restrictions on the autonomy of Catalonia up to early regional elections. On October 27, the Parliament of Catalonia was dissolved.</s>Catalonia’s new parliament meets for the first time on Wednesday, a step towards choosing a president for Spain’s wealthiest region, a daunting challenge when the top candidate has fled abroad and other potentials are in jail. Here is a look at what lies ahead for Catalonia, a region which has been ruled by Madrid for the past three months after it held an illegal independence referendum:

Carles Puigdemont, the 55-year old ex-Catalonia chief sacked by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for his role in organising the Oct. 1 independence referendum, is the separatists’ candidate to rule Catalonia.

In theory, that should have been easy: the Dec. 21 regional election called by Rajoy in a bid to weaken the independence drive backfired and gave nationalists an absolute majority. But Puigdemont is targeted by an arrest warrant over leading the secession bid. He is now in Brussels and faces arrest and potentially decades in jail the minute he steps foot in Spain.

Puigdemont and his allies have touted ruling via proxy or by videolink from Belgium. But, Rajoy said Madrid would simply not recognise such an in-absentia regional government and would continue its direct rule of Catalonia in that case. Catalonia’s parliament’s own legal advisers said such a government would be against the law.

IF NOT PUIGDEMONT, WHO ELSE?

The head of ally ERC, Oriol Junqueras, the other main separatist leader, is in jail for his role in Catalonia’s secession bid. The problem for the nationalists, if they don’t manage to get one of them elected, is that there are no obvious replacement candidates and agreeing on someone else could be a lengthy and difficult process. Another option would be for those jailed or fugitive deputies to forfeit their seats and hand them to other party members.

WHO DECIDES IF PUIGDEMONT CAN BE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE?

On Wednesday, lawmakers will be sworn in and elect their house’s president and the assembly’s committee. The committee has the ultimate authority to decide whether Puigdemont is allowed to present himself as presidential candidate from Brussels, a move Madrid says it will contest in the courts. Since separatists have a majority in parliament they are likely to dominate the committee.

After Wednesday, more voting will be needed for Catalonia’s parliament to choose the region’s government and its president. That could take up to two months if no candidate gets an absolute majority of votes. If parties agree on a regional leader and it’s Puigdemont while he is still abroad, Madrid would declare the vote null and keep its control over the region. If they fail to agree on Puigdemont or another candidate in that time frame, it’s back to square one with fresh regional elections.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>Catalonia's parliament met on Wednesday in a first step towards forming a new government dominated by the question of whether sacked former leader Carles Puigdemont can return as president and continue his push for independence from Spain.

Puigdemont's supporters have suggested the former journalist could rule the wealthy region via video link from self-imposed exile in Brussels, to where he fled in October to avoid arrest for charges including sedition and treason.

The Spanish government had imposed direct rule on the region, whose economy is bigger than that of Portugal, after the previous Catalan administration led by Puigdemont made a unilateral declaration of independence.

However, a regional election in December returned a slim majority to secessionist parties in terms of seats.

In a sign of strength for the parties seeking a split from Spain, Catalan lawmakers on Wednesday elected pro-independence politician Roger Torrent as speaker of the regional parliament.

Torrent was the preferred candidate for speaker of the two main pro-independence parties, Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia).

But the secession movement has also been weakened by the fact that five members of parliament, including Puigdemont, are in Brussels while three are in custody for their role in an illegal independence referendum in October.

Late on Tuesday, the two main pro-independence parties said they would back Puigdemont as presidential candidate. A first vote to choose a new leader is likely to take place on Jan. 31.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has dismissed the possibility that Puigdemont could rule by Skype as absurd and the Catalan parliament's own legal experts have ruled that any president must be physically present in parliament.

However, the ultimate decision lies in the hands of the Catalan parliamentary committee which will be formed on Wednesday. Rajoy has said he will contest in the courts any move to allow Puigdemont to return to power.

The seats of absent lawmakers were marked with giant yellow ribbons on Wednesday. Even if these lawmakers are unable to vote, the pro-independence parties will still have more weight in parliament than those favouring unity with Spain.

Pro-independence supporters gathered outside the parliament on Wednesday waving red and yellow Catalan flags.

"I know that we are going to have a lot of problems with the Spanish government but we are going to do it," said demonstrator Dolors Esplugas. "On January 31, Carles Puigdemont is going to be appointed."

Uncertainty over the region's future has led to thousands of companies, including two of the country's top banks, moving their headquarters from Catalonia to elsewhere in Spain.

The independence drive has also increased tension between Madrid and Barcelona, divided people the region, and caused resentment in much of the rest of Spain.</s>A group representing Spain’s Jewish communities has criticised a video tweeted by the ousted Catalan president that features images of the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, along with archive footage of Hitler and Franco.

Shortly before Catalonia’s regional parliament convened to elect a new speaker on Wednesday, Carles Puigdemont renewed his attack on the Spanish authorities for sacking his government after it staged an independence referendum last October.

“They understand only fear, violence and imposition,” Puigdemont tweeted. “We will teach them that there is nothing that can bend the spirit of a free, peaceful and democratic people. We are restoring our institutions. We are fighting for the country. We are exercising dignity. Long live the land, and long live free Catalonia!”

Beneath the message was a video that mixed footage of the Spanish police violence during the referendum with film of a 1940 meeting between the Nazi leader and the Spanish dictator, immediately followed by a video of Rajoy.

Puigdemont thanked the maker of the “awesome video”, adding: “The commitment and determination of the new generations are the best guarantee of the republic.”

The video was condemned by the Federation of Spanish Jewish Communities as senseless and counterproductive.

“The deceitful use of photos and images relating to the second world war makes no sense and undermines the credibility of the message,” it said in a statement. The federation also said it supported - and would always support - Spanish law and the constitution.

A source close to Puigdemont said: “He wasn’t making any comparison between Franco and Hitler and [Rajoy’s] People’s party. All he was doing was sharing the video and saying that it was impressive because it showed the power of the [Catalan] people on 1 October.”



The source added that Puigdemont had always been firmly against attempts to play down the horrors of Nazism. Puigdemont’s former government has previously compared the Spanish authorities to authoritarian regimes in North Korean, China and Turkey.

Puigdemont, who led the region’s push for secession from Spain, fled to Brussels in October after the Catalan parliament made a unilateral declaration of independence, prompting Rajoy to sack the regional government, take control of Catalonia and call fresh elections.



The polls, held on 21 December, saw Catalonia’s three pro-independence parties retain their majority, winning a total of 70 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament.

Puigdemont intends to return as president, but faces immediate arrest on possible charged of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds as soon as he sets foot in Spain.

His supporters believe he could be sworn in again as president by appearing via videolink or having one of his MPs read out his speech in the investiture debate likely to be held on 31 January.

Rajoy has insisted that Puigdemont will not be allowed to govern remotely.

“It’s absurd that someone may intend to be a candidate to be the head of the regional government while being in Brussels and running away from justice,” he said on Monday.

“This is no longer just a judicial and political problem, this a problem of pure common sense.”

On Wednesday morning, Roger Torrent, a member of the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left party, was elected the new parliamentary speaker.

Torrent said he intended to focus on ending the Spanish government’s direct rule and looking for “understanding and dialogue in Catalonia’s political life”.

Puigdemont congratulated Torrent, tweeting: “I am sure you will exercise the role with nobility and bravery, protecting institutions and the country.”

The former Catalan vice-president, Oriol Junqueras, remains in prison facing possible charges over the push for independence, as do the region’s former interior minister and two prominent pro-independence activists.

Article 155 of the Spanish constitution – which permits Madrid to maintain direct rule over Catalonia – will stay in place until there is a new Catalan government. If no candidate is elected within two months of the first investiture vote, parliament will be dissolved and new elections held 54 days after the date of the first investiture vote.</s>Catalonia’s new parliament has elected a pro-secession speaker, virtually guaranteeing the push for independence for Spain’s northeastern region will go ahead.

The opening session of the new Catalan assembly came amid looming questions about the role that fugitive and jailed politicians will play within the chamber’s separatist majority and the future regional government.

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium in October to dodge a Spanish judicial probe, wants to be reinstated to his old job.

But he faces arrest if he returns to Spain and legal hurdles if he wants to be voted in from abroad by the regional assembly.

Poll: Majority of Scots don’t want Indyref2 in next five years

Mr Puigdemont’s seat and other empty seats in the parliament were adorned with a yellow ribbon today.

Four ex-Cabinet members sought by Spain’s Supreme Court are also in Brussels and three more elected lawmakers, including former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras, have been jailed on provisional charges of rebellion or sedition.

Other former Cabinet members and parliamentary officials have been released from jail, but remain under investigation.

Spanish central authorities took direct control of Catalonia following the unilateral declaration of independence by separatist lawmakers on 27 October.

Under special powers, Spain fired Mr Puigdemont’s government, dissolved parliament and forced a new regional election on 21 December in the hope of halting the secession drive.

But contrary to Madrid’s hopes, separatists regained their slim parliamentary majority despite receiving less than half of the votes, although Ciutadans (Citizens) – a party that fiercely opposes independence – gained the most seats.

Several hundred people rallied near the parliament in central Barcelona, waving separatist flags as they watched the new house speaker’s election on a large outdoor screen.

Roger Torrent, a lawmaker with the left-republican ERC party, was elected to head the assembly’s governing committee that plays a key role in deciding what issues are debated and voted on in parliament.

“I want democracy and coexistence to be the foundations of this term,” Mr Torrent told fellow lawmakers from the speaker’s podium as he vowed to restore the self-government of Catalonia that is now in the hands of Madrid.

He also said, as speaker, he would defend the right of “all 135 voices in the chamber”, including those fugitive or in jail.

But Ciutadans leader Ines Arrimadas criticised the inaugural session, saying, “We start the legislature as we finished the last one, with a parliament speaker who is going to work only for independence.”

However, Ms Arrimadas pointed out things had changed in the parliament because the secessionist bloc now had fewer seats and votes and the independence stance had no international support.

“No matter what happens, we are going to be the guarantors for Catalonia not to make any independence declaration,” she said.

Although Ms Arrimadas’ party won the most seats – 36 – unlike the secessionist bloc, she lacks enough support to form a government.

Mr Torrent is tasked with choosing a candidate to try to form a government by the end of the month.

The two secessionist parties back the candidacy of Mr Puigdemont, but the former president would first have to get approval from Mr Torrent’s committee to vote and be elected from abroad.

Elsa Artadi, spokeswoman for Mr Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), said the separatists were “working to explore all the tools in the parliament’s rules to see what will be the formula”.

Parliamentary legal advisers said in a report this week Mr Puigdemont could not be sworn in via video link or by having a proxy candidate as he must debate his candidacy in person in parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has also vowed to maintain direct rule over Catalonia if the fugitive separatist politician tries to resume office from Brussels.

The parties that promote Catalan independence jointly hold 66 seats in Catalonia’s parliament and also have support from four pro-independence, anti-establishment lawmakers.

Polls consistently show that most Catalans want the right to decide the region’s future, but are evenly divided over splitting from Spain.

‘He’s extremely vigorous’: Jeremy Corbyn not too old to be Labour leader</s>Madrid: Spain will continue to rule the regional administration of Catalonia directly from Madrid in the event that its self-exiled former leader Carles Puigdemont is chosen as president by the Catalan parliament, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Monday.

Puigdemont fled to Brussels in October after Rajoy fired him as Catalonia’s leader when he declared an independent republic following an illegal referendum. He faces arrest and possibly decades in jail if he returns to Spain.

With only days before Catalonia’s parliament convenes to elect a new regional government, separatists said Puigdemont was their candidate to lead the region again. They are exploring the possibility he could do so by video link from Brussels.

But Rajoy on Monday poured scorn on the idea.

"It’s absurd that someone aspires to be president of the Catalan regional government as a fugitive in Brussels — it’s a case of common sense," he said in a speech at his centre-right People’s Party (PP) Madrid headquarters.

If Puigdemont tried to attend the parliamentary vote for a new head of region from Brussels, the Spanish government would challenge his appearance immediately in the courts, he said.

Rajoy said if Puigdemont was re-elected, constitutional powers invoked by the government in October to impose direct rule on the region would continue to apply.

Rajoy had called regional elections in December to try and resolve the political crisis that led to an exodus of companies from the region.

However, the election returned a slim majority to parties favouring independence, raising the possibility of a renewed push for a split from Spain this year.

The parliament will meet for the first time on Jan. 17 to choose the committee that rules its day-to-day activities. A new leader could be voted in by parliament as early as 31 January.</s>BARCELONA, Spain — Donald Trump has his tweets, but fugitive Catalonian separatist leader Carles Puigdemont is opening a new frontier in social media-aided governance.

From his Belgian sanctuary, Mr. Puigdemont is asking the Spanish province’s new parliament, where separatists have retained control despite a bruising battle with the central government, to inaugurate him this week by Skype and allow him to govern “telematically.”

He made the unusual request as a fierce clash between the rebellious northeastern province and the central government in Madrid was flaring again after inconclusive regional elections last month failed to resolve the gravest challenge to Spain’s unity in decades.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned Monday that the government will keep control of Catalonia if the former regional leader tries to resume office from Belgium.

“It’s absurd that someone may intend to be a candidate to be the head of the regional government while being in Brussels and running away from justice,” Mr. Rajoy told reporters Monday in Madrid. “This is no longer just a judicial and political problem; this a problem of pure common sense.”

The latest elections proved a disappointment to both sides.

Mr. Rajoy hoped a majority of Spain’s richest province would reject the separatists, but three pro-independence parties captured 70 of the 135 seats in the Catalan parliament.

Pro-independence forces failed to gain a majority of the votes cast, and Ciudadanos, a center-right party gaining support throughout Spain, received the largest single share — 27 percent — of the seven parties competing in the local elections.

Since the vote, the separatists have struggled to find unity and bolster their popular support, even as the Rajoy government dismissed Mr. Puigdemont’s Skype inauguration as surreal.

Officials in the exiled former leader’s Junts per Catalunya have said they will present enabling legislation before the Catalan parliament, which reconvenes Wednesday to allow the online swearing-in to proceed.

Mr. Puigdemont fled to Belgium in November to escape arrest when Mr. Rajoy imposed direct rule on Catalonia in response to a declaration of independence by its regional government.

Mr. Rajoy then called the December regional vote, calculating that parties opposing the break with Spain would ride to victory on a backlash against separatism. But his gamble fell short. After Ciudadanos, Mr. Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya got the second-largest share with 23 percent.

Spanish government officials have said that direct rule provisions they have instituted in Catalonia will remain in place if separatist parties try to install Mr. Puigdemont this week by video conference.

“It’s a fallacy, an impossible pretension. You cannot be president from 2,000 miles away,” said central government chief spokesman Ernesto de Vigo.

He said last week that Madrid would immediately challenge Mr. Puigdemont’s authority in the constitutional court, which earlier declared Catalonia’s independence bid to be illegal.

The Associated Press reported Monday that legal analysts have also informed leaders of the Catalan parliament that the proposed Skype ceremony would not be valid and that the person sworn in as the chamber’s leader must be physically present.

The central government has other cards to play, according to Ciudadanos lawmaker Carlos Carrizosa. He told The Washington Times in an interview that secessionists may be unable to muster a majority because eight of their parliamentary representatives are either in jail or abroad as “fugitives” and can’t attend parliamentary sessions.

Independence leaders have said they can get around the problem.

Spokesmen for the secessionist umbrella organization ANC said their leader, Jordi Sanchez, and two others in prison can give their parliamentary votes to a proxies in the legislature.

But even that would leave the secessionists three votes short of the 68 needed to vote for Mr. Puigdemont. The shortfall could be covered only if three of the five lawmakers who fled to Belgium resigned their seats to be replaced by others down their party’s list, in accordance with Spain’s system of proportional representation.

ANC sources said that is being negotiated. But despite televised images of Mr. Puigdemont meeting with his parliamentary group and forming a shadow Cabinet in Brussels, there are signs that his coalition could be unraveling.

His imprisoned vice president, Oriol Junqueras, has said he should be named president in Mr. Puigdemont’s absence, in effect agreeing with the central government’s premise that the president must be physically present to be elected. There was speculation in the Spanish press that Mr. Junqueras was negotiating his release from prison in exchange for renouncing his region’s independence declaration.

Other secessionist leaders have done so. The president of Catalonia’s parliament, Carmen Forcadell, retracted her support for unilateral independence before a Spanish court last month, and others are reportedly seeking plea bargains.

Mr. Puigdemont’s security chief, Joaquim Forn, has been cooperating in Spain’s widening probe into Catalan police collusion in October’s independence referendum.

“It’s like being back in the days of the Spanish Inquisition, when religious conversion was obtained under duress,” one commentator remarked.

If secessionists fail to muster an absolute majority, then the election for a president would pass to a simple majority, providing an opening for Ciudadanos and its 36-year-old leader, Inez Arrimadas, a former business consultant, to seek an alliance with the Socialists.

Officials of Mr. Rajoy’s Popular party, which got a mere 5 percent in December’s vote, have openly urged Ms. Arrimadas to give it a try.

“We have the full legitimacy to opt for the presidency of the Catalonia’s regional government,” said Mr. Carrizosa, “but it would be complicated.”

All the independence parties would close ranks against Ciudadanos, said ANC spokesman Andre Astis.

“All those exiled in Belgium would concede their seats to fellow independence supporters to block Ciudadanos,” he said in an interview.

Ciudadanos is also opposed by Spain’s leftist Podemos party, whose bloc of eight lawmakers in the Catalan parliament may emerge as power brokers.

Podemos already blocked a bid by Ciudadanos for the parliament’s speakership.

“We may be left with no alternative but supporting the central government’s prolongation of direct rule in Catalonia,” Mr. Carrizosa said.

The growing confusion of Catalonia’s politics could prove a target of opportunity for Russia. Some critics say the Kremlin sees the separatist battle in Spain, a NATO ally that hosts a key U.S. Navy base, as part of a larger drive to sow divisions across Europe, according to Spanish and U.S. intelligence reports.

A Spanish Defense Ministry think tank published a report last week saying cyberoperations targeting Spain similar to the ones in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries where Moscow is seeking to expand its influence.

The Spanish press has revealed that a Catalan communications specialist who is a close aide to Mr. Puigdemont has met in London with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose organization is at the center of the U.S. 2016 election meddling probe after publishing internal Democratic Party documents originally stolen by Russian hackers.</s>Puigdemont is in self-imposed exile in Belgium. Photo: AFP

Spain's prime minister warned Monday that Madrid would maintain unpopular direct control of Catalonia if the former regional leader Carles Puigdemont tries to govern again from exile in Belgium.

Speaking to party members in Madrid, Mariano Rajoy said that Puigdemont had "to be physically present" in Catalonia to take office, and if that didn't happen, the central government would maintain direct rule imposed after Catalan leaders declared independence in October.

Puigdemont is the separatist camp's favoured candidate to lead Catalonia again after pro-independence parties won an absolute majority in December regional elections.

READ MORE: Ex-Catalan leader's party pledges to re-elect him remotely

But he is in self-imposed exile in Belgium and risks arrest on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for his role in the region's failed independence bid if he comes back to Spain.

To be elected regional president, he should in theory be present at the parliamentary session where the vote takes place, but he wants to appear by videolink or write a speech and have it read by someone else.

If that is allowed -- and legal experts doubt this can be done -- Puigdemont would then have to officially take office from Belgium and could try to govern the region remotely.

Direct rule on Catalonia is very unpopular in a region that enjoyed considerable autonomy before its leaders attempted to break away from Spain.

This prompted Rajoy to take control of the region, sack its government, dissolve its parliament and call the snap December elections.</s>BARCELONA: The new pro-independence speaker of Catalonia's parliament on Thursday started meeting party representatives to pick a regional president, with exiled former leader Carles Puigdemont in the lead for the post.

The central government in Madrid has already warned it will keep direct control over Catalonia if Puigdemont tries to govern from Belgium, where he and other ousted ministers fled after declaring independence from Spain in October.

On Wednesday, the region's separatist block regained control of the Catalan parliament following the assembly's dissolution on October 27 by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in response to the breakaway attempt.

Fresh from a victory in December elections that gave them an absolute majority in parliament, separatist lawmakers elected Roger Torrent of the left-wing, pro-independence ERC party as speaker.

Four out of seven of his deputies are also pro-independence.

Their next step is to regain control of the government with Puigdemont as their leader.

Torrent, 38, who gave a conciliatory first parliamentary speech on Wednesday, is holding talks with all the different assembly groups to designate the candidate with most support.

He was due to meet Thursday with the Socialists, who oppose independence, and Catalunya en Comu, the Catalan allies of far-left party Podemos, who are also against Puigdemont as candidate.

Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia list won the most votes in December within the separatist bloc, but he is in Brussels in self-imposed exile after escaping just days after the regional parliament declared independence.

He risks arrest on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for his role in the failed independence bid if he comes back to Spain.

He wants to present his candidacy and government programme to parliament -- a prerequisite to being voted in -- remotely via videolink or by having someone else read it for him.

The Catalan parliament's legal experts, however, say the contender has to be physically present and Madrid has vowed to block him.

But the final say lies in Torrent and his deputies, who will ultimately decide whether or not to allow it.

Last week, Torrent hinted that he would follow what the parliament's legal experts said.

But his ERC party has said it will support Puigdemont as president.
The Parliament of Catalonia opens the new legislature. Roger Torrent (ERC) is named Speaker. Three parliamentarians in jail vote through proxies, the five parlementarians in exile in Belgium do not. Carles Puigdemont (PDeCAT, JuntsxCat), through his spokesman, considers it "perfectly plausible" for him to be president remotely. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says that he will not restore Catalonia's autonomous powers if the regional parliament permits Puigdemont to lead the government from exile.