Spanish leader urges Catalans to defeat separatists at polls

BARCELONA, Spain— Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged voters in Catalonia on Sunday to defeat the separatists who led the region’s recent drive for independence when they go to the polls in an early election next month.

Rajoy, who used previously untapped constitutional authority to call the Dec. 21 regional election, told members of his conservative Popular Party at a Barcelona hotel that “we want a massive turnout to open up a new period of normalcy” in Catalonia.

Rajoy’s visit to Barcelona, Catalonia’s main city, was his first to the region since he used the constitutional powers to stifle the secession push led by the regional government.

After Catalonia’s Parliament voted Oct. 27 in favor of declaring independence, Rajoy responded by firing top government officials, dissolving the Parliament and ordering the early election.

Spain’s Constitution says the nation is “indivisible.”

“It’s urgent to return a sense of normality to Catalonia and do so as soon as possible to lower the social and economic tensions,” Rajoy said Sunday. “The threat of the separatists is destructive, sad and agonizing. Secessionism has created insecurity and uncertainty.”

Polls show a tight race between Catalan separatists and politicians who want the region to remain a part of Spain.