Legal doubts regarding the candidacy of Rafael Luzan and a legal loophole that can be exploited | Relief

Rafael Luzan looks like one of the favorites in the early stages of the election race in the Royal Spanish Football Federation. He is the President of Galicia and one of the men with the greatest influence over the barons, a man with experience in government and considered by many to be the most qualified. within a small group comprising the territorial presidents, step forward and pilot the RFEF..

Although his profile lists him as a favorite, there is a moment in his history that could derail the entire project. In May 2022, he received a sentence in the Regional Court for evasion. in the improvement work of the Moragna football field. The verdict, which cleared him of fraud charges, included deprivation of the right to hold public office for seven years.

And this is where the problem arises, since the ministerial order regulating the electoral processes, as well as the rules of the RFEF itself, state that people with a criminal record disqualifying them from holding public office are not eligible to be president of the Federation.

“There are several cases of disqualification, one of them is disqualification. for a sports position by a competent sports body such as the TAD, and is also expected to be disqualified from a public position by a final decision,” explains Irene Aguiar, sports law expert.

The center of everything is in the last part of his sentence, the one that talks about the final clause. “I don’t have details about their procedures, but What may happen is that he has filed an appeal against this verdict, and although it is appealed, it is not final, so it can be filed“, explains the lawyer.

Indeed, Luzan appealed the verdict, and this is one of the reasons why he continues to lead the Galician Federation. Awaiting the final verdict that will determine whether he is guilty or not.his disqualified status has been suspended.

Nicolas de la Plata, professor of sports law at the European University of Madrid, explains that the point that marks this whole process is new in the latest rules: this is the first time that the Order includes disqualification from public office among the reasons why a person can legally disqualified from appearing.

“There is one important thing: in principle, the position of President of the Spanish Federation is not a public position, since it is a private organization; although it is true that it performs government functions through delegation of powers. But the new article 17.3 of the Procedure for regulating the electoral process, approved by the ministry, expanded the grounds preventing the nomination of a candidate. and marks as a reason for deprivation of the right to hold public office or represent interests based on a final court decision. Not because it is a public position, but because of the Order,” explains De la Plata, who does not know the specific case of Luzana.

In other words, the problem is not that the RFEF is a private organization, as has been endorsed in many rulings, but that its elections are governed by a ministerial order that stipulates that it cannot stand if a final verdict is reached. which disqualifies the holding of public office. In addition, the federal regulation itself, also in Article 17, defines that those who are “disqualified from holding public office or representing interests by a final decision of the court shall be declared incompetent.”“.

The fact is that at this point the verdict is not final, and this opens the possibility for Lusan to appear without problems. However, just because he can do this doesn’t mean new legal concerns won’t arise in the future. If he runs and is elected president, what will happen if the verdict is finally ratified in a few months?

“If this were to happen, it would fall under what is called cause of disqualification. That is, he may emerge unscathed from the electoral process and lead Spanish football, but in a few months a new verdict could force him to leave office.

“It’s as if he stopped complying with the requirement. This would also happen if for any reason he became incapacitated due to any circumstances, will be considered a subsequent disqualification and must terminate“, he states. This was evident, in his opinion, also in the elections to the Assembly, some members were members by virtue of their position – for example, due to the fact that they were trainers practicing in Spain – and when they ceased to be such, they also had to leave the Assembly.

De la Plata believes that this part, namely the election and retention of the presidency in the event of a final decision, is somewhat more dubious. “I understand that if the final verdict comes to him later, he will have to resign as president.but you can change that because it says that to be a candidate you cannot support yourself for any of these reasons and so it stands to reason that you cannot support yourself either, but the rule doesn’t say that. , and from there we’ll have to see what TAD says,” he says.

Because, of course, the fact that this is an innovation within the regulation means that its terms are not so easily predictable. “Since this is something new, and this particular clause 17 is new, there is no TAD case law related to thisTherefore, if such a circumstance arises, the RFEF Election Commission will first have to consider it, which remains in effect throughout the mandate, and if they do not agree with what they decide, they can resort to TAD,” it said.

While there are some things that seem clear, the law is rarely black or white. The provisions of both the Ministerial Order and the RFEF Election Regulations complicate matters for Lusan, but the application of the law sometimes produces interesting results.