Catalan rebels cling to power in election blow to Spanish PM
SEPARATIST parties are set to keep a majority in the new Catalan parliament, early figures from yesterday’s local elections suggest.
A record number of voters put pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont back on track to regain the leadership of Spain’s northeastern region.
Preliminary results based on 76 per cent of votes showed a coalition of secessionist parties winning a majority – a huge blow to conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
He had called the election in the hope that separatist parties would be losing steam.
Rajoy had hoped the election would return Catalonia to what he has called ‘normality’ under a unionist government – or with a separatist government that will not seek a unilateral split.
But the pro-independence groups were seen getting 70 seats in the 135-seat assembly, the early data showed.
The Spanish government had tried to resolve the constitutional crisis triggered after Catalonia illegally declared independence from Spain. Yesterday’s poll became a de facto referendum on how support for the independence movement has fared since October. Mr Puigdemont was deposed two months ago after the illegal referendum.
He fled to Brussels, where he has remained, and others in his government have been jailed. Last night he said he would return if the vote went his way – despite Spain having an arrest warrant out for him.
It was thought that a vote for unionist parties could help bring stability back to the region. Meanwhile another poll published by La Vanguardia newspaper suggested that separatist parties would get between 67 and 71 seats in the 135-seat assembly. The unionist bloc would garner 55 to 62 seats while the local offshoot of anti-austerity party Podemos would get seven or eight seats. Catalan authorities said a record 86 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, a total of 4.5 million people.
The atmosphere was one of peace and order as long queues of voters formed, in contrast to the October 1 referendum, when police fired rubber bullets and wielded truncheons to prevent people voting as the central government cracked down on the illegal ballot.
Mr Puigdemont urged voters on Thursday to show they back the movement.
‘Today we will demonstrate the strength of an irrepressible people. Let the spirit of October 1 guide us always,’ he said from his self-imposed exile in Brussels.
The independence crisis has damaged Spain’s economy and prompted a business exodus away from Catalonia, its wealthiest region. More than 3,100 firms have moved their legal headquarters out of the region since October.