Catalonia fails to elect regional leader

Ex-separatist minister failed to get enough votes

BARCELONA, Spain — The separatist majority of Catalonia’s parliament failed to elect a regional president during a vote held Thursday, starting a two-month countdown to another election being called in the restive corner of Spain.

Candidate Jordi Turull, a former minister in the previous Catalan government, fell short of the absolute majority needed due to a division within the three parties who seek independence for the northeastern region.

An abstention by lawmakers from the anti-capitalist CUP party left Turull with 64 votes when he needed 68.

Parliament rules say he could have asecondchancetobeelectedon Saturday, when only a simple majority of more “Yes” than “No” votes would be required to make him Catalonia’s next president.

But Turull and five other separatist leaders have a date at the Madrid-based Supreme Court on Friday, when a judge could indict them on rebellion charges and sent to preventative jail.

The regional parliament now has two months to elect a president and form a government before a new election is triggered. Other candidates may be put up during that time.

Turull earned the votes of his “Together For Catalonia” group and the Republican Left, while the CUP’S four members abstained. The 65 members of parties who want Catalonia to remain part of Spain voted against him.

Turull already spent a month in preventative jail as part of the judicial investigation into the regional parliament’s unsuccessful declaration of independence in October, which led Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to remove Catalonia’s government.

Turull is the third candidate proposed by separatist lawmakers since they maintained a slim majority in a December election called by Rajoy. His candidacy brought political tensions in Spain to a head once more.

“I prefer to accept the risk of being a victim of injustice than to back away from what is happening,” Turull told the Catalan assembly with his court date looming less than 24 hours away.

Manu Fernandez The Associated Press Jordi Turull sits next to an empty chair with a yellow ribbon in support of Catalonian politicians who have been jailed on charges of sedition during a parliamentary session Thursday at the Parliament of Catalonia in Barcelona,...