The Catalan exile body, the Council of the Republic, has been given the green light by its members to go ahead with institutional restructuring, after the results were announced this Tuesday of a consultation process held over the last week. In response to the query "Do you agree that it is necessary to adapt the institutional structure of the Council so that it can fulfill its mission more effectively and that, consequently, a restructuring of its bodies is carried out to make this adaptation possible?", the 'Yes' option got 76.5% of the votes, 'No' 19.5% and 'Blank' 4%. However, turnout was extremely low: only 6.53% of eligible voters took part in the consultation (from a total census of 90,481).
As a consequence of the vote, the Council's current Asssembly of Representatives will be abolished and replaced by two new representative bodies: a chamber representing the local councils, which will work with the aim of debating and taking decisions on the actions to be carried out, and a second chamber which will be dedicated to "the preparation of republican legislation (the laws of the Catalan Republic) in which all those experts and professionals necessary for this task can participate in the Council's registered base".
"Moving towards a better Council"
Once the result was known, the government of the Council thanked all those who voted in this consultation, and declared that the result "will allow progress towards a better, stronger and more effective Council".
In the coming days, the results of another Council of the Republic consultation will be known. The grass roots of the Council of the Republic begin to vote from this Tuesday on whether Together for Catalonia (Junts) and the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) should block a possible investiture of the Spanish Socialist (PSOE) leader, Pedro Sánchez. The question for the affiliates is clear: "Should the Council of the Republic promote the blocking of the investiture of the Spanish prime minister by the Catalan pro-independence parties?". This is a proposal that a member of the Council promoted last July and obtained the necessary endorsements (1% of members) so that the members of the body chaired by Carles Puigdemont must vote on it.