PP deputy Ana Vázquez avoids sanction after bringing pepper spray into Congress
The Congress' governing board dismissed the disciplinary file against PP deputy Ana Vázquez, who had entered the chamber with a pepper-spray device, citing the dissolution of the legislature as the reason.
PP deputy Ana Vázquez was found to have brought a pepper-spray device into the Congress chamber, violating article 101.2 of the chamber's regulations that forbid weapons inside the building. The board of the Congress agreed on Tuesday to archive her disciplinary file, explaining that the imminent dissolution of the Cortes makes it impossible for the full chamber to vote on a suspension. The board, which currently holds a PSOE-Sumar majority, said that if a vote were possible, a one-week suspension had been proposed to coincide with a period when no plenary sessions were scheduled.
The statement stressed that the incident on 23 September was gravely serious, causing evacuations in three buildings and economic damage, but clarified that the inability to sanction does not equate to exoneration. Vázquez remains a substitute member of the Permanent Deputation, the body that continues to operate during the electoral period.
Why it matters
It shows how parliamentary procedures can limit disciplinary actions during election periods.
In this story
