The different separatist parties in Catalonia won on Sunday February 14 enough seats to bolster their majority in the regional parliament, even though the local branch of the ruling Socialist Party in Spain suggests a dialogue, rather than a rupture, with the government in Madrid.
After counting 99% of the ballots, the separatists were given victorious 50.9% of the votes, crossing for the first time the threshold of 50%.
The most likely scenario is that the two main separatist parties renew their outgoing government coalition.
However, no one expects a repeat of the 2017 showdown between the region and the central power of Madrid. Tensions, which had reached unprecedented levels by then, have since ebbed, and voters on Sunday were more concerned about the coronavirus epidemic.
Low participation
It is possible that the low turnout against the backdrop of the health crisis, 53% against 79% in the previous election in 2017, favored the separatist parties, whose supporters mobilized.
In the polling stations, the assessors donned coveralls, masks and visors during the last hour of voting, nicknamed “Zombie hour”, reserved for voters sick with Covid-19 or suspected of being.
The left-wing pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) has announced that it will lead the regional government and seek support from other parties for holding a referendum on independence.
“The country begins a new era with (the separatists) exceeding 50% of the vote for the first time […] We have immense strength to achieve a referendum and a republic of Catalonia ”ERC interim leader Pere Aragones said, calling on Spanish government president Pedro Sanchez to start talks on a referendum.
But the Socialist Party, which finished at the top of this fragmented vote, obtaining more than 23% of the vote and as many seats as the ERC – 33, in an assembly which has 135 seats -, should also try to form a government.
Entrance of the far right into the regional parliament
Socialist candidate Salvador Illa, who until recently was in charge of the fight against the coronavirus in Spain as Minister of Health, said there was a general desire for reconciliation in Catalonia after years of separatism.
He said he wanted to obtain a parliamentary majority, which would however require an unlikely alliance with other parties.
The center-right Junts movement was credited with only 32 seats, while the far-left separatist CUP party was given nine seats victorious. These two parties are considered essential in the objective of a new separatist government coalition.
Vox (far right) entered the regional parliament with 11 seats, ranking ahead of the Popular Party (PP), the main party of the Spanish right, and the centrist movement Ciudadanos. Vox is already the third party in the national parliament.
The fact that ERC wins more seats than Junts could also strengthen the stability of the national government. ERC had indeed joined its voices to those of the Socialists on several occasions in Madrid in exchange for discussions on the political conflict in Catalonia.
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