Catalans flock to the polls

FINAL SURVEYS SHOWED SEPARATISTS, UNIONISTS RUNNING NECK-AND-NECK Same data suggests that the pro-independence camp may still be able to form a minority government.

Catalans flocked to the polls yesterday for an election that could strip pro-independence parties of absolute control of the region’s parliament, though prospects of it ending the country’s worst political crisis in decades appear slim.

Final surveys published last Friday showed separatists and unionists running neck-and-neck, though the same data suggests the pro-independence camp may still be able to form a minority government.

That would keep national politics mired in turmoil and raise concerns in European capitals and financial markets.

However, the secessionist campaign has lost some momentum since it unilaterally declared independence in October to trigger yesterday’s vote, and one of its leaders took a conciliatory tone towards Madrid this week.

Long queues formed outside voting stations in the affluent region of northeastern Spain shortly after they opened in the morning. .

Among those queuing in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, a working class suburb south of Barcelona, was Dr Miguel Rodriguez, 53, who in October voted for independence in a referendum that Madrid declared unconstitutional.

“I’m not very optimistic that these elections will return a stable government,” he said, upset that the Spanish government had fired the previous regional government.

International bond investors showed few signs of nerves yesterday, with the premium demanded for holding Spanish debt over its top-rated German equivalent holding close to its narrowest levels in three months.

“(The election) cannot be ignored going into year-end,” said Orlando Green, European fixed income strategist at Credit Agricole in London. “But the secession movement has been significantly diminished.”

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Catalonia’s previous government for the referendum and declaring independence. He called then yesterday’s vote in the hopes of returning Catalonia to “normality” under a unionist government, or failing that a separatist government acting within the Spanish and regional laws and not seeking a unilateral split.

A separatist majority might further dampen investors’ confidence in Catalonia, which has an economy larger than that of Portugal and is a key driver of Spain’s economic growth. –

Picture: AFP LIBERTY. People queue outside a polling station in Sabadell during the Catalan regional election yesterday, where the word ‘Freedom’ is written on the street.