The practical non-delegability of the parliamentary vote: commentary on Judgment 65/2022, of May 31, of the Constitutional Court

Abstract

The commented judgment analyzes the constitutionality of the delegated vote according to the rules of the Regulation of Catalonia to conclude that, by virtue of the principle of personality of the vote, this cannot be delegated except in an exceptional, restrictive manner and the delegation must be, when it can be given, only the expression of the vote previously expressed by the delegator. The sentence extends the personality and the non-delegability of the vote regulated in article 79 of the Spanish Constitution for the Cortes Generales to an essential condition of the representative function as a manifestation of the right to political participation of article 23 of the Spanish Constitution and, therefore, applicable to all autonomous Parliaments.