Catalan MPs elect separatist speaker without Puigdemont

Catalan lawmakers on Wednesday elected a separatist as parliamentary speaker, the first stage of a plan by pro-independence deputies to get regional leader Carles Puigdemont, in self-exile in Belgium, back into power.

As MPs met for the first time since a failed bid to break from Spain, protesters waving separatist flags gathered outside the assembly in Barcelona where pro-independence parties are in the majority after winning regional elections on December 21.

With 70 out of 135 deputies, they largely favor Puigdemont, sacked by Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy along with his Catalan cabinet on October 27 after the regional parliament declared unilateral independence, as candidate for president.

Despite being in Belgium, Puigdemont wants to make a comeback and govern the deeply divided region.

For separatist lawmakers, the first step towards this was to secure control of parliament by getting one of their supporters elected speaker.

They did that on Wednesday, with 65 lawmakers voting for Roger Torrent, a member of the leftwing separatist ERC party, against 56 who cast their ballot for an anti-independence candidate.

Separatists will also attempt to get a majority of their supporters elected as deputy parliamentary speakers.

These moves make sure assembly rules are respected and will decide whether Puigdemont and others are allowed to be lawmakers while remaining out of the country. Including the former Catalan president, five separatists are abroad and risk arrest on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for their role in the failed independence bid if they come back to Spain.