Catalan separatists regain majority in regional vote despite lower support
BARCELONA, Spain — Catalonia’s secessionist parties won enough votes Thursday to regain a slim majority in the regional parliament and give new momentum to their political struggle for independence from Spain.
It was hardly an emphatic victory, however, as the separatists lost support compared to the previous vote in 2015, and a prounity party for the first time became Catalonia’s biggest single force in parliament.
The anti-independence, pro-business Ciutadans (Citizens) party garnered 37 seats in the 135-seat regional assembly with nearly 99 percent of the votes counted.
Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), the party of fugitive Catalan president Carles Puigdemont garnered 34 seats, left-republican ERC came third with 32 and the anticapitalist CUP won four seats. The three pro-independence forces together make up 70 seats, two above a majority but two less than in the previous 2015 election.
“The election has resolved very little,” said Andrew Dowling, a specialist in Catalan history at Cardiff University in Wales. “Independence has won, but in a way similar to 2015. Majority of seats but not in votes.”
Mr. Puigdemont, who was dismissed by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government, campaigned from Belgium, where he is evading a Spanish arrest warrant in a rebellion and sedition probe. He greeted the result with delight, but rebuked Spain’s centralgovernment.
“The Spanish state has been defeated,” Mr. Puigdemont said, without saying if he would return to Spain. “Mariano Rajoy has received a slap in the face from Catalonia.”
The result leaves more questions than answers about what’s next for Catalonia, where a long-standing push for independence escalated to a full-on clash with the Spanish government two months ago.
The result is a blow to Mr. Rajoy, who ousted the Catalan Cabinet and called the early election hoping to keep the separatists out of power. His ruling Popular Party had a poor showing in the Catalan election, left with only three seats in the regionalassembly from 11 held inthe previous parliament.
Mr. Rajoy has said that taking over control of the region again would be something he would consider if independence, which is against Spain’s constitution, is sought by a new Catalan government.
No incidents were reported during the election Thursday.