Official poster of the 9N./ Picture: Catalan Government
Eduardo González. Madrid
The Catalan Government has prepared 19 voting spots abroad with a view to the pro-independence consultation of 9 November, located at the delegations in Brussels, Berlin, London, Paris and New York and in other remote countries such as Canada, Brazil, China, Argentina, Australia, the United States or Andorra.
Concerning the possibility of cancelling the use of these centres abroad for the consultation of the 9N after the decision of the Constitutional Court to provisionally stop all the actions related to the process, sources of the Catalan Government guaranteed last Wednesday to The Diplomat in Spain that “everything will be the same” and that, in fact, “everything is already prepared and nothing is going to change”.
According to a statement spread last week by the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and of the European Union of the Department of the Presidency of the Catalan Government, “all those people over 16 years old resident abroad and having a national identity document where there appears a residence located in Catalonia” could participate in the consultation. Those who do not have the national identity Document with residence in Catalonia, but appear on the Register of Catalans Resident Abroad or on the Register of Spaniards Resident Abroad (RSRA) will be able to participate. In the second case, they have to be registered in Catalonia for voting effects.
In all, the Catalan Government is preparing “19 spots to participate abroad”, which will be located in five delegations (Brussels, Berlin, London, Paris and New York) and in Centres for Business Promotion of the department of Business and Occupation of Milan, Copenhagen, Montreal, San José (California, United States), Mexico City, Sao Paulo (Brazil), Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Sidney (Australia), Tokyo and Hong Kong, as well as the cities of Perpignan (south of France) and Andorra la Vella.
The Catalan Government will use its delegations in Brussels, London, Berlin, Paris and New York
The Catalan Government is also preparing “20 spots to participate in Barcelona for those Catalans resident abroad who want to participate in the 9N in Barcelona and do not have a national identity document with an address in a Catalan municipality”. Those Catalans resident abroad who cannot participate in the 9N will be able to do it until 25 November in any of the territorial delegations of the Catalan Government within Catalonia.
The Catalan Government affirmed last Tuesday, after the decision made by the Constitutional Court, its intention to move forward with the “participative process with all its consequences”, for considering it “a way to guarantee the freedom of speech”, and it announced it is bringing a lawsuit against the Government before the Supreme Court for considering that it has violated fundamental rights.
