[News] Catalonia election: poll suggests separatists will retain majority

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Polls suggest Catalan separatist parties are on course to retain their parliamentary majority and win more than 50% of the vote in a regional election that has been overshadowed by the Covid pandemic and dominated by the continuing debate over independence from the rest of Spain.

 

The results of a poll for Catalonia’s TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio – released when voting ended at 8pm on Sunday – showed that while the unionist Catalan Socialist party (PSC) would win 34-36 seats and the largest share of the vote, pro-independence parties would win at least 73 seats, giving them a majority in Catalonia’s 135-seat parliament.

 

It predicted 36-38 seats for the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), 30-33 for the Together for Catalonia party, seven for the Po[CENSORED]r Unity Candidacy (Cup), and up to two for the Catalan European Democratic party.

 

The poll forecast the far-right Vox party picking up six to seven seats – its first in the regional parliament – while the conservative People’s party looked to be in for another dismal showing, winning four to five seats. 

 

The poll was triggered last September after the region’s separatist president, Quim Torra, was banned from office for displaying pro-independence symbols on public buildings during the 2019 general election campaign.

 

The vote will serve as yet another barometer of the strength of the independence movement, which has set aside festering divisions to present a united front against the resurgent socialists. To date, pro-independence parties have never managed to win 50% of the vote. If Sunday night’s poll is correct, they could take 52.7%, up from 47.5% four years ago.

 

Sunday’s election comes almost three and a half years after the pro-independence regional government of the then president Carles Puigdemont pitched Spain into its worst political crisis in decades by defying repeated warnings from the Spanish government and courts to stage an illegal, unilateral independence referendum.

 

The issue of Catalan independence has faded over the past two years as splits grew between separatist factions.

 

The ERC favours a more moderate and negotiated strategy to achieve independence, but Together for Catalonia has opted for a more confrontational approach in order to maintain pressure on the central government and keep its base motivated.

 

 

The region remains fairly evenly split over the issue. According to a recent survey, 47.7% of Catalans are against independence and 44.5% in favour.

 

The PSC candidate, Salvador Illa, had vowed to heal divisions and “stitch Catalonia back together” if elected. Pro-independence parties responded to the PSC’s strong showing in pre-election polls by agreeing not to make any deals that would help it into government.

 

Pere Aragonès, Catalonia’s acting president, who stood as the ERC’s candidate, dismissed Illa’s approach as “amnesia” and argued that his party will not “turn the page” while independence leaders remain in prison over their role in the doomed attempt at secession.

 

But Aragonès said that while taking 50% of the vote would be a boost to the independence movement, there would be no immediate rush towards unilateral independence. “We’ve always maintained that it’s better to agree on a referendum with Spain,” he told Reuters.

 

Much will hinge on turnout, with many people reluctant to vote because of the continuing third wave of the coronavirus pandemic and the cold, wet weather. By 6pm, turnout was at 45.7%, down from with 68.2% four years ago. However, more than 270,000 people have requested a postal vote – three times as many as at the last election.

 

The regional government had set out a timetable to try to minimise the risks. Older people and those with conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus were invited to vote between 9am and 12pm, while those who have tested positive for Covid, those in quarantine and those who have been in close contact with someone with the virus, were asked to vote between 7pm and 8pm. The rest of the po[CENSORED]tion was set to vote between 12pm and 7pm.

 

Despite staff concerns about being exposed to Covid, 100% of the 9,000 polling stations were open by mid-morning and ready to receive Catalonia’s 5.3 million voters.

 

The streets of Barcelona were deserted and only a small queue of mostly elderly voters waited in the rain outside the polling station on Sant Pere Més Baix in the city centre.

 

Hand sanitiser was obligatory and staff inside wore both masks and visors as well as latex gloves. Staff will be wearing full PPE during the 7pm-8pm slot, which has been called “the zombie hour”.

 

A novelty in this election has been the campaign for citizens to give their vote to one of Catalonia’s million immigrants who are unable to vote because they are not Spanish citizens.

 

Under the Twitter handle @hijadeinmigrantes, “daughter of immigrants”, the Voting is a Right campaign links disenfranchised residents with people willing to cede their vote.

 

“I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for any of the candidates, so I decided to let someone else have my vote,” said Ramón (not his real name). “I gave the website my details and they connected me with someone who wanted my vote.”

 

Marike Charlier, a French engineer, said the lack of a vote had left her feeling shut out of Catalan politics, adding: “I feel the independence cause is stopping us from advancing on other issues.”