Push for independence gathers pace
Pro-secession parties pushing for Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region to break away and form a new Mediterranean nation have won a landmark vote by capturing a majority of seats in the region’s parliament, setting up a possible showdown over independence with the central government in Madrid.
The ‘‘Together for Yes’’ group of secessionists has 62 seats in the 135-member parliament. If they join forces with the left-wing proindependence Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) party, which won 10 seats, they will have the 68 seats needed to push forward their plan to make Catalonia independent from Spain by 2017.
But the CUP had insisted that it would only join an independence bid if secessionist parties won more than 50 per cent of the popular vote.
They won only about 46 per cent because of a quirk in Spanish election law that gives a higher proportion of legislative seats to rural areas with fewer voters.
Still, Catalonia’s leader Artur Mas claimed victory as a jubilant crowd interrupted him with cheers and chants of ‘‘Independence!’’.
Many Catalans who favour breaking away from Spain say their industrialised region, which represents nearly a fifth of Spain’s economic output, pays too much in taxes and receives less than its fair share of government investment.
‘‘We have a lot of work ahead. We won’t let you down, we know we have the democratic mandate,’’ Mas said. ‘‘We have won, and that gives us an enormous strength to push this project forward.’’
Critics said the proindependence forces failed to gain legitimacy for their secession push with the election result.
‘‘They have lost the elections as a de facto referendum because they haven’t won the 50 per cent of the vote. Mas should resign,’’ said candidate Carlos Carrizosa of the anti-independence Citizens party, which won the second-highest number of seats.
CUP leader David Fernandez insisted that his party ‘‘will not be the one to fail independence’’.
But differences are already apparent, as party leaders have declared that they want an immediate declaration of independence rather than the 18-month secession road map favoured by the ‘‘Yes’’ bloc.
Secessionists have long pushed for an independence referendum, but Spain’s central government has refused to allow it, saying such a vote would be unconstitutional. So the pro-independence parties pitched the vote for regional parliamentary seats as a de facto referendum.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s ruling Popular Party government says it will use all legal means to prevent Catalonia from breaking away, an exit European leaders have warned would include ejection from the European Union.
Spain’s government has also said it is concerned that if Catalonia tries to break free, it would disrupt the fragile signs of economic recovery for a country that has endured recession and unemployment of over 22 per cent for several years.
The ruling party’s candidate to lead Catalonia, Xavier Garcia Albiol, acknowledged that the election result was a blow.
‘‘These are not the results that we expected or wanted,’’ he said.