Catalan MPs vote on new regional separatist leader

Barcelona: Catalonia’s parliament will vote on whether to appoint hardline independence supporter Quim Torra as regional president, after deposed leader Carles Puigdemont stepped aside from the running.

Torra, a 55-year-old father-of-three, is an independence advocate cut from the same cloth as Puigdemont who picked him and has tasked him with continuing his fight with Spain’s central government to achieve independence.

On Friday, Torra said his government would march on with its “process of construction of a republic” in a sign that the secession crisis is far from over even if Catalonia does finally get a regional government after months of political limbo.

Still, he is not expected to get enough support at the parliamentary vote of confidence, which requires an absolute majority that he does not have.

He will get another opportunity in a second round, likely to take place tomorrow, where he will only need a simple majority – although even that is not assured.

There are currently 70 lawmakers in the regional parliament who are pro-independence, against 65 who are not.

But four of the 70 are from the radical anti-capitalist, separatist CUP party which has said it will vote for Puigdemont – and no one else.

If they decide to abstain, Torra will scrape through in the second round with a simple majority. But if they vote against, he will not succeed.