Leaders wrap up Catalan campaign

BARCELONA: Catalonia’s surreal election campaign drew to a close on Tuesday as separatists gathered to demand freedom for their detained leader, and axed regional president Carles Puigdemont prepared to hold a rally via videolink from exile in Belgium.

The regional vote on Thursday pits leaders of the wealthy northeastern region’s separatist movement against candidates who want to stay part of a unified Spain.

Voters are highly mobilised and a record turnout is expected, but with pro- and anti-independence candidates neck-and-neck in the polls neither side is likely to win a clear majority.

The campaign has been closely watched from across the European Union, which is still reeling from Britain’s decision to leave.

It has inflamed passions not just in Catalonia but across Spain, whose government took the unprecedented step of stripping the region of its autonomy after its parliament declared independence on October 27.

“These elections will decide whether we return to normality, to the constitution, to reason,” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told a rally in Barcelona on Monday.

While polls suggest a narrow lead for the leftist, pro-independence ERC, voters could ultimately hand victory to centrist party Ciudadanos, whose charismatic candidate Ines Arrimadas has campaigned on a fierce anti-nationalist ticket.