Catalan self-rule camp smaller than it looks — analysts

BARCELONA: Although nearly two million people voted ‘ Yes’ in Catalonia’s symbolic ballot on independence, analysts say nationalists will struggle for a majority in their drive to break away from Spain.

In the week since the ballot, Catalan leaders and the Spanish government have been arguing about whether the vote was a boost or a flop for the independence movement.

Catalonia’s president Artur Mas called it a ‘total success’ but Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy branded it a ‘deep failure’.

The region’s government said 1.86 million of the 2.3 people who turned out on Nov 9 voted for secession.

“You can’t belittle that. Two million is a lot of people, about a third of the (voting) population. What’s more they have the support of the Catalan government and they are highly mobilised,” said Angels Pont, head of pollster Gesop.

But most anti-independence voters apparently boycotted the ballot.

The rules were less strict than for an official vote, with no official electoral roll.

The minimum age to vote was 16 rather than 18 and more resident foreigners were allowed to vote than in a normal vote.

Those measures raised the number of people eligible to vote from 5.4 million in a normal election to 6.2 million, making the final number of ‘Yes’ ballots equivalent to 30 per cent of voters. —AFP