The main separatist alliance and a small pro-independence party won 72 of the 135 regional parliament seats. This will be hard, as Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has long opposed any attempts to hold a referendum on secession, has vowed to challenge any unilateral moves toward a referendum in court. But they jointly obtained 47.8 percent of the vote in a record turnout of 78 percent, a result which market analysts say is hardly a boost to the independence campaign.
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Responding to a win by pro-independence leader Artur Mas and his allies in Catalonia’s election on Sunday, Rajoy said he was ready to “open a dialogue” with the Spanish autonomous region’s next government.
They argue that the Spanish government has consistently refused to allow a legally recognised referendum to take place, ignoring an unofficial vote backing independence in November 2014.
But the result suggested they would win less than 50 percent of the popular vote and that a radical left-wing party was likely to emerge as a kingmaker in negotiations to push an independence effort forward that the central government in Madrid says would be illegal.
The pro-independence 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 prosperous, industrialized region bordering France. “Mas still wants to lead the process and it is unclear whether he would allow an alternative candidate to be elected PM without dissolving the pro-independence coalition”.
The Popular Party and the Socialists, who won 16 seats, were overtaken by the anti-independence Citizens party, which won 25 seats, up from nine.
The PP’s Pablo Casado said “this election should serve to end the independence debate once and for all”.
Nicholas Spiro, head of Spiro Sovereign Strategy, said the result “raises more questions than it answered” and made for an uncertain national election later this year.
The critical vote follows a demonstration on September 11, Catalonia’s National Day, when more than 1.5 million people flooded the streets of Barcelona calling for independence.
Opinion polls show a majority of Catalans would like to remain within Spain if the region were offered a more favorable tax regime and laws that better protect language and culture.
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Many Catalans are annoyed at the deficit that exists between the amount of money that goes to Madrid in taxation, and the amount they receive back in spending.
