Parliamentary Bureau secretary and CUP MP Pau Juvillà is "in a complicated health situation" that will prevent him from continuing to carry out "his usual political activity", CUP informed in a brief four-line statement. Nevertheless, Juvillà continues to demand Parliament not strip him of his seat despite the Electoral Board's ruling, which has given speaker Laura Borràs five days to do so. This Tuesday the Bureau will meet, although Juvillà will not be there as a consequence of his health condition, CUP sources confirm.

The Central Electoral Board (JEC) was able to leave Quim Torra without a seat on 3 January 2020, as confirmed on Friday by the fourth administrative contentious chamber of the Supreme Court. Torra lost his seat despite the fact that he did not have a final conviction (confirmed by the Supreme Court at the end of September) and that he continued to serve as president of the Generalitat for nine months. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal lodged by the Parliament, which argued that, without a final sentence, only the Catalan parliament can remove a deputy from his seat. Moreover, the appeal questioned the competence of the CEC to take such a decision, since it came outside the electoral process.

The Central Electoral Board has reminded the Generalitat that a blank paper inside the envelope will be considered an invalid vote. "This Board has already reiterated in different occasions that the blank vote is expressed in the way foreseen in the article 96.5 of the Electoral law, which considers as such the envelope that does not contain a ballot paper. It does not foresee the creation of blank ballots", concludes the resolution issued this Sunday. "A blank but valid vote is an envelope that does not contain a ballot paper", stated the Board, quoting the electoral law.

If not enough people turn up to man a polling station, the substitutes from other polling stations may be relocated to ensure the vote goes ahead. This is the general criterion dictated by the Central Electoral Board (JEC). After each of the zone boards established their own alternatives, the JEC decided to unify criteria and give a clear order: volunteers are not allowed, but on the other hand, substitutes from other poll stations that have been set up can be relocated. Thus, JEC responds to a request of the Provincial Electoral Board of Tarragona, which asked to establish a joint method for the whole Catalan territory. The final position of the JEC comes after last week the Electoral Board of Barcelona recommended all its branches discard the creation of a volunteer pool and consider the option of relocating substitutes as the most viable way. The JEC agrees with its position and establishes that substitutes will have to wait until 10 am -the deadline for forming the poll stations- to know if they have to be relocated to another poll station in the same centre or to another "nearby" one. It does not specify, however, if substitutes may be relocated to other towns, and simply asks them to vote first thing and wait in case they are finally needed.