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[Reelya]

Yeah but you can't sing "The rain in Spain falls mainly in the northern coast, from Galicia to the Basque Country".

[ChairmanPoo]

If you sing it to the Super Mario tune you can.

[hector13]

@cathar: It's a Dutch name.... I'm sure French has names that sound silly to others.

Anyhow, bbc article http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41819940 He's said that he'd accept the results of the snap election, but wonders if the government would abide by the results since chances are high that it'll end up with a similar composition. The Spanish government apparently said that he could take part in the fresh polls, I think. Also, he said that he'll return to Spain if the government gives him some guarantees.

Rajoy said Puigdemont can take part so long as he isn't in prison, which probably meant he'll be in prison.

[smjjames]

Still, given that things won't have cooled down much (if any, and weather nonwithstanding) by December 21st, there is a high chance of Madrid not getting the result they'd prefer, which is a government that doesn't have the number of nationalists to declare another independence or continue what they were doing.

I can imagine having to do it twice would be quite the farce. As Puidgemont said, he is willing to accept the results, but is Madrid willing to? It's like the gamble Theresa May took with her snap election, there's no guarantee you'd get the results you want.

[ChairmanPoo]

They do have a law that allows them to ban parties who work "against the established democratic order" you know, voted in 16 years ago (ironically enough, with Puigdemont's party's votes in favor) to veto radical Basque nationalist parties from taking part in elections. Back then it was because of the tacit rhetorical support of Herri Batasuna of separatist terrorism, but the wording of the law is ambiguous enough to apply it to pretty much anything they want.

Of course if they use that it's throwing even more gasoline onto the fire...

We'll see. It does seem that, if the nationalist coalition stays together (Which is not a given,), they would sustain or even increase their representation, so...

[smjjames]

Can said parties run as independent in Spain? That'd be a way around. Also, there is no law in the US that bans particular political parties, the two big ones just dominate the scene and make things difficult for smaller parties.

In fact, the two big parties aren't parties in the European sense either where you have established legal parties with official legalness. There are things related to elections that are required, but the government has no legal power to stop people from forming any party they want.

[ChairmanPoo]

Can said parties run as independent in Spain?

After a ban no. Any party that is deemed a "resurrection" of the banned party is subsequently banned. This includes having any people in it's structure from the former party. It took the radical nationalists ten years to be able to relaunch their party (likely it was part of the officially not existing peace negotiations between the goverment and the terrorists, given that it happened AFTER the ceasefire).


Also, there is no way to run as "independent" proper. You can register a new party, but in order to be able to participate in an election you need a number of signatures (the exact number varies. For general elections you need 1% of the census)

[smjjames]

I don't suppose the politicians can change parties at will? Course though, there are problems with that such as the new party accepting them and how the politicians supporters would react. And there's the routine election related paperwork that they might not have enough time to process because preparations are going to have to start soon.

Also, write ins, if that's a thing in Spain.

Either way, banning the party in this kind of situation would definetly be pouring gasoline on the fire since Madrids intentions would be all too obvious.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It's still crazy to me how casually so many European nations can just declare a political organization illegal and void basically at will. But going so far as to effectively ban anybody associated with a banned party from political life? Christ, that's a tyranny loophole a mile wide.

Also, what's the deal with separatist parties getting hit by this law but neo-Falangists slipping by? Is the government really still that sympathetic to the Franco regime?

[RedKing]

This just in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[martinuzz]

Puigdemont has declared that he and his ministers are now a government in exile. He demands that the upcoming elections be turned into an official referendum on Catalonian independence, although he has promised to accept the outcome if it is in favour of Spain.

https://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/puigdemont-wil-officieel-referendum-en-tot-die-tijd-vanuit-ballingschap-regeren~a4526791/

[ChairmanPoo]

This just in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

https://youtu.be/CO2G8b5kE_w

[da_nang]

Puigdemont has declared that he and his ministers are now a government in exile. He demands that the upcoming elections be turned into an official referendum on Catalonian independence, although he has promised to accept the outcome if it is in favour of Spain.

https://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/puigdemont-wil-officieel-referendum-en-tot-die-tijd-vanuit-ballingschap-regeren~a4526791/

Puigdemont still hasn't gotten it into his head that 1. elections don't work that way and that 2. the constitution still needs to be changed which requires political support outside of Catalonia, either from parties or voters, which likely has been blown due to pulling the independence trigger too early.

[Antioch]

This whole Catellan independence thing relies on every actor in it to keep blundering spectacularly, doesn't it?

[Culise]

This whole Catellan independence thing relies on every actor in it to keep blundering spectacularly, doesn't it?

As was once opined, history repeats itself: once as grand drama, the second time as farce.