CATALONIA has postponed the election that was due to take place on February 14 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the poll is likely to be held on May 30.

Details were thrashed out in the Catalan parliament last night after the socialist party became the only one seeking to change the date to one in March.

Leader Miquel Iceta claimed there were no health criteria behind the postponement, and added: “I have proposed postponing the elections for five weeks, enough time to lower the health pressure and enough time to make reasonable forecasts. It is one thing to change the election date, and another is to change the rules of the game.”

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Vice-President Pere Aragones said: “The voters are the most important in an election, and we need to guarantee the right to political participation, the right to vote, but also the right to health and the right to life in the current pandemic situation.”

The election date debate came as three of the independence leaders convicted for their part in the 2017 referendum asked a court to speed up the processing of their applications for pardon.

Jordi Sanchez, former president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), along with ex-ministers Jordi Turull and Josep Rull wrote to the Supreme Court demanding that “procedural impetus” be given to the processing of files on their cases.