MADRID, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- A member of the seven-person electoral board for Catalan's independence referendum created last week by Catalan Regional President Artur Mas has stepped down, citing the proposed vote "does not offer democratic guarantees."
Joaquin Brugue, who is a member of the political party Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), said his decision to leave the electoral board four days ago was "personal."
"I accept any criticism, but I can't support a consultation which in my opinion does not offer democratic guarantees," Brugue said.
In addition to being a member of the ICV, Brugue is a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
The electoral board was established by Mas on Oct. 2 in an act which the Spanish government believes contravenes the decision taken by the Constitutional Court a week ago to order the suspension of all activities surrounding the proposed referendum scheduled for Nov. 9.
This happened after the Spanish government appealed holding a referendum on Catalan independence on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. Following Friday's cabinet meeting, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria announced the government would also appeal the creation of the electoral board.
Over the weekend, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted at a meeting of his People's Party (PP) in Guadalajara that: "Nobody is above the law in Spain... The law comes first and everything else comes afterwards."
Rajoy added that "law and dialogue," was the way out of the current situation, to which Mas responded the following day that the situation indeed had to be resolved by talks, but stood firm on the referendum issue, insisting it would take place.
"We hope that once we have voted on November 9 the Spanish government will understand once and for all the clamor that there is in Catalonia," Mas told journalists.
