Rita Barberá resigns from PP, but insists on keeping her Senator job
Thursday, September 15, 2016 @ 2:16 PM
VALENCIA city council's ex-mayoress Rita Barberá has resigned from the PP party over a recent probe into possible bribes and money laundering in the run-up to last year's elections, but refuses to leave her seat in the Senate.
Pressure was mounting for Rita to be forced to quit from some high-ranking members of the PP, including Galicia's regional president Alberto Núñez Feijóo and acting health minister Alfonso Alonso – who is standing as regional presidential candidate for the Basque Country elections in 11 days' time – and in the end the PP said it would have to 'suspend her membership'.
The party also wanted her to give up her position of Senator, given that, with a possible third general election on the cards in December, the PP – having been blighted by a string of corruption cases in the last five years or so – is keen to clean up its public image.
But Barberá pointed out that she is legally entitled to keep her seat, albeit as a non-affiliated Senator.
This means she will automatically keep her diplomatic immunity status, meaning any legal case against her goes straight to the Supreme Court, leap-frogging the lower tribunals.
Rita says giving up her place in the PP, having served as mayoress of Valencia for 24 years until she lost the elections last May, was 'very hard' and 'very painful'.
“I have submitted my resignation to the Partido Popular [People's Party] because they have asked me to and in doing so, in addition to offering a further demonstration of my dedication to the PP, I will avoid anyone using me as a shield and holding me responsible for any harm caused to the party or to hide their political and electoral results,” Rita says.
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