Salamanca (EFE).- The Court of First Instance number 5 of Salamanca has ordered that the Popular Party convene and hold its congress in Salamanca within a maximum period of 45 days. The congress accumulates two years of delay.
The Court has upheld the precautionary measure requested by 13 Popular Party militants who sued the party for violation of fundamental rights by not calling this congress and verifying that it is still not being held despite the upcoming municipal elections approaching.
The judge orders the Popular Party to “immediately” convene and hold the provincial party congress in Salamanca within 45 days, thus complying with the demand of the affiliates that the new leadership be in charge of nominate candidates, although most of them have already been announced.
The resolution is not final and can be appealed against by the PP, whose highest leader at the national level, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has escaped the sanction requested by the defendant by not attending the court summons on January 20 in the courts of Salamanca, but not the reproaches of the judge.
Criticism of Feijóo for not going to declare
The head of the court criticizes the president of the PP for his absence: “the parties are not competent to decide on the relevance or usefulness of the evidence to be practiced in a procedure, but these powers are the responsibility of the judge,” he points out.
In fact, he concludes that one of the circumstances that led him not to attend the summons is that “there are no” “certain and sufficient” reasons for not calling the provincial congress of the PP.
«At least it is strange that the most visible person of the PP, the one who has taken the reins in the month of April of the year 2022, has not had the opportunity to learn about the lack of holding of the congress, in the province of Salamanca, after A lawsuit had already been filed months ago, in another court, on the same issue, and published in print, “the judge summarized in her order.
In addition, he criticizes that he was not aware of the “relevant” fact of the resignation of the provincial president of the PP, Javier Iglesias, last December, which forced the convening of a management commission, which has precisely been in charge of appointing the candidates of the main municipalities of the province and that had precisely as its central objective to summon the congress of the PP.
In her order, the judge details that it has been the Popular Party itself that has recognized in its writings and statements the delay in calling the congress, but has rejected the arguments given by this party for not calling, especially those related to the covid pandemic.
In fact, the magistrate stresses that these same health prevention arguments were not enough to prevent the congresses from being held in the rest of the provinces of the Community or in the case of the PP.EFE regional congress itself.
