Spanish election authorities on Monday banned Catalonia's former president Carles Puigdemont, who fled the country in 2017 after a secession attempt, from running in upcoming EU polls.
Puigdemont slammed the move in a tweet as a "legal scandal and a coup to democracy".
The electoral commission decision, seen by AFP, also excludes Toni Comin, who was in Catalonia's regional government when the secession bid happened and is now in self-exile in Belgium.
Clara Ponsati, another former Catalan minister who fled Spain and planned to run in the European Parliament elections, has been banned as well.
No reason was given as to why they were banned from running.
The commission would not comment when contacted by AFP.
Puigdemont's party, Together for Catalonia, accused the electoral commission of wanting to "silence and push aside" Puigdemont "so that he can't explain what he represents at the heart of European institutions."
When he was picked last month to represent his party in the upcoming European Parliament polls, Puigdemont said: "It is time to take another step to internationalise the right to self-determination in Catalonia from the heart of Europe to the whole world."
The head of the Popular Party, Pablo Casado, said on Twitter that he was "satisfied with the electoral commission's decision."
Ines Arrimadas, head of Ciudadanos, tweeted that "if you undertake a state coup and then flee, you cannot represent in Europe the country where you made that coup."
Together for Catalonia said it would "immediately deploy all forms of legal action in the Spanish state and in Europe to defend the rights of the three candidates."
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