Vote on Catalonia's new president canceled to await EU court
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The speaker of Catalonia's assembly suspended Friday a vote to elect the northeast Spanish region's new president, and no new date was scheduled.
Regional parliament Speaker Roger Torrent decided to wait for a European Court of Human Rights ruling on whether a jailed leader of the region's independence movement can be Catalonia's next president, a statement from the Catalan Parliament said.
The decision was announced late Friday and came after Spain's Supreme Court turned down the jailed leader's request to attend a session of parliament previously set for Monday. Lawmakers had planned to vote on making him the region's leader.
Jordi Sanchez, a prominent secessionist who was elected to parliament in December, has been imprisoned near Madrid since October. He is being detained while Spain's Supreme Court investigates whether he orchestrated protests that hindered officials trying to stop a court-banned Catalan independence referendum that month.
