Pro-secession parties in Catalonia claim win
BARCELONA, Spain — Pro-secession parties pushing for Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region to break away and form a new Mediterranean nation won a landmark vote Sunday by capturing a majority of seats in the regional parliament, setting up a possible showdown over independence with the central government in Madrid.
With 98 percent of the vote counted, the “Together for Yes” group of secessionists had 62 seats in the 135-member parliament. If they join forces with the left-wing pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy party, which won 10 seats, they will have the 68 seats needed to try to push forward their plan to make Catalonia independent from Spain by 2017.
But CUP had insisted that it would only join an independence bid if secessionist parties won more than 50 percent of the popular vote. They won only about 48 percent because of a quirk in Spanish election law that gives a higher proportion of legislative seats to rural areas with fewer voters.
Still, Catalonia leader Artur Mas claimed victory as a jubilant crowd interrupted him with cheers and chants of “Independence!” in Catalan, which is spoken side by side with Spanish in the well-off and industrialized region bordering France.
Many Catalans who favor breaking away from Spain say their 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. Independence sentiment grew during Spain’s near economic meltdown during the financial crisis.
“As democrats we were prepared to accept the defeat. Now, we demand that they accept the victory for Catalonia and the victory of the ‘yes,’” he said. “We have a lot of work ahead, we won’t let you down, we know we have the democratic mandate. We have won and that gives us an enormous strength to push this project forward.”
The pro-independence parties had nearly 48 percent of the popular vote, falling just short of a majority because of a quirk in Spanish election law that gives a higher proportion of legislative seats to rural areas with fewer voters. Critics said the pro-independence forces failed to gain legitimacy for their secession push with the election result and demanded Mas’ resignation.
“Artur Mas convoked these elections because he said the majority of Catalans were with him. Today the majority of Catalans turned their back on him, and the only thing he must do is resign,” said Ines Arrimadas, the leading regional parliamentary candidate for the anti-independence Citizens party.