Now secessionists hope that today’s regional parliament election will put Catalonia on the road toward breaking away.
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Mas’ liberal ruling party, the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), is aligned with long-time rivals in the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and the independence coalition Together for Yes.
On Friday, PP leadership released a video in which the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, made a rare declaration in Catalan, arguing: “United we will win”. The language was harshly suppressed during the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.
Artur Mas, the head of Catalonia’s government, formed a separatist alliance ahead of the region’s parliamentary elections and, should he win, plans to declare sovereignty within 18 months for the wealthy region’s 7.6 million people.
Mr Mas has vowed to launch a roadmap towards independence by 2017 if he wins a majority in the regional parliament.
The surge in independence sentiment stems from June 2010, when Spain’s Constitutional Court struck down key parts of a groundbreaking charter that would have granted Catalonia more autonomy and recognized it as a nation within Spain.
Polls suggest a majority of Catalans favour a referendum on independence but are evenly divided over whether they want to secede.
While the region is widely regarded as one of Spain’s richest, 1 in 5 live below the poverty line and unemployment stands at 22.2 percent.
Mas then decided that today’s election for regional lawmakers would serve as a substitute independence vote.
But after the central government in Madrid shut down attempts by Catalan leaders to hold a referendum on independence, nationalists called early elections that could act as a quasi-referendum on whether the north-eastern region should seek to break away from Spain.
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At the same time, if “Together for Yes” fails to gain a majority it would be tantamount to a serious defeat for the pro-independence movement. But it’s unclear how detailed it would be.
