Joan Botella, a political science professor and dean of the Barcelona University School of Law, lists some of the reasons why the planned referendum is not legal: there is no international validation for it; it does not follow the rules set out by the Spanish Constitution; there is no Census Board, no electoral law, no neutrality by the parties who are calling the referendum. And there is a paradox: “It has not been called, it has merely been verbally announced, and it seems logical that a referendum of such import should be officially called with sufficient time before it is held.”