Well, it seems that the electoral calendar agreed last Friday between the Catalan government and the parties with parliamentary representation in Catalonia to delay the elections until May 30th could still be blown apart and sent back to the starting blocks, that is, with the polls again ordered to be held on February 14th. This very Monday, in the early afternoon, the leadership of the Catalan employers' association Foment del Treball meets in an extraordinary meeting called on Saturday to discuss one single proposition: taking an appeal to the Catalan High Court (TSJC) on the electoral postponement in order to reverse the decision and restore 14th February as election day. The appeal by Foment to the TSJC would make it unnecessary for the Catalan Socialists (PSC), the only party that opposed the postponement, to put its money where its mouth is after its statements of recent days.
The Catalan employers thus become the unexpected guest who could shatter the political agreements reached and allow the TSJC to enter the field of play. This court, the one which lit the fuse for the disqualification from office of Catalan president Quim Torra, in the end confirmed by the Supreme Court, and which meant that Catalonia is without a president because of a banner hung on the government palace, would now have it in its hands the suspension of the postponed elections.
The president of Foment, Josep Sánchez Llibre, will find significant vexation among some members of the executive committee at the meeting, since from the employers' group the decision is considered unjustified and bound to have very negative consequences for the economy. Areas such as the retail, hospitality and restaurant sectors are strong advocates of the appeal to the Catalan court. The employers have also already sounded out legal opinion to see if the appeal has winning arguments and the response has been positive.
Considering that winding the electoral clock back to February 14th is not so simple, given that there are processes such as postal voting that have been left in limbo with the setting of the new date, the TSJC, if it receives Fomento's appeal would have to decide on it with some speed, even this very week. Could they refuse to admit it? Yes, it is an option, but not the most likely one. If the court takes the other path, nothing should be ruled out, as it will then enter unfamiliar terrain. The 14th? Or the 21st since some legal deadlines for electoral processes would have already passed? Taking testimony from the Catalan government for the postponement or avoiding that? With or without charges being laid?
There is no roadmap, as there are no precedents. The previous postponement of the Basque and Galician elections in April last year was not appealed by anyone and, therefore, there was no court ruling. But in Catalonia there are already multiple precedents in which the justice system has demonstrated that it won't give an inch in its superficial interpretations of issues if they have some connection to the Catalan independence movement.