Xelo Huertas will quit as speaker of the Balearic parliament if Podemos asks her to.

Xelo Huertas will quit as speaker of the Balearic parliament if Podemos asks her to. | Pere Bota

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma07/11/2016 00:00
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Xelo Huertas, the Podemos president (speaker) of the Balearic parliament, has been suspended from the party. The secretary for organisation, Pablo Echenique, announced the suspension today, explaining that it resulted from requests by Podemos in the Balearics to look into "sufficient evidence" of Huertas having attempted to benefit the "personal interests" of Daniel Bachiller. He is a senior figure in Podemos in the Balearics, and questions have been raised about funding of a laboratory that he operates; he has also been suspended. The funding relates to an agreement with the Balearic government.

Huertas responded by saying she was shocked and upset at having learned of her suspension via media reports. She has denied any wrongdoing and has attributed the accusations to jealousy on behalf of some colleagues in the leadership of Podemos in the Balearics. This jealousy, she has suggested, is because she was made president of parliament.

She added that she will give up her position if she is asked to by the party but that she will not give up her seat in parliament. It is difficult to see how she could possibly continue as speaker.