Xelo Huertas has today been dismissed as president (speaker) of the Balearic parliament. This followed the withdrawal of the support she had been receiving from the Partido Popular.
The PP had wanted parliament's legal services to clarify procedural issues, and the legal report, presented at a meeting this morning of the parliament's board, established that parliament could be acting with malfeasance (abusing public office) if it did not apply an article which stipulates that a deputy (member) of parliament must cease to be part of the board (the case with Huertas) if he or she is no longer with the relevant parliamentary group: she was expelled by Podemos.
Having considered the report's contents, the PP backed down and so therefore ceased to delay the dismissal of Huertas, who wasn't at the meeting of the board. Although by late afternoon there had been no official statement regarding her dismissal, the news was confirmed by PP deputies who had attended the meeting. Huertas, leaving parliament, was asked by reporters what she thought about the situation. "I do not think," she replied, adding that she hadn't yet been informed by anyone that she was no longer president. "Justice will say what has to be said. I will not make a single statement." Her case against expulsion by Podemos is due in court next month.