Catalans face new elections

REGION REMAINS SPLIT ON FULL INDEPENDENCE FROM SPAIN

Several polls suggest pro-secessionists might struggle to win enough seats.

After their failed independence bid, which saw leaders being detained or fleeing abroad, Catalan separatists head into a new election this month divided over the future of their region, but united against what they say is “repression” from Madrid.

The vote on December 21 comes amid Spain’s worst political crisis in a generation after Catalan lawmakers declared independence following a banned referendum.

Madrid’s response – to sack Catalonia’s parliament and government, suspend its autonomy and organise new elections – has prompted a string of demonstrations in the region of 7.5 million people.

But Catalans remain deeply split on independence and several polls suggest pro-secession parties might struggle to win enough seats to form a new regional government.

“From now until December 21, the dispute in the pro-independence camp is going to get worse and they will exchange blows,” said Oriol Bartomeus, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

“They could open up a rift that prevents them returning an overall majority.”

In 2015, pro-independence parties won 47.8% of the vote, allowing them to ally with the far-left Popular Unity Candidacy to form the largest bloc in the region’s parliament. But the polls show support for secessionists hovering around 45% – potentially putting another majority out of reach.

Lawmakers in Catalonia – a wealthy but indebted region which generates a fifth of Spain’s GDP – sent shock waves through Europe on October 27 by voting to split from Spain. –