With 90 per cent of the vote counted, it appears that parties in Spain’s Catalonia region seeking independence managed to maintain their majorities in Sunday’s regional elections. Spanish media reported this based on first polls.
Expectations also show that the far-right Vox party won seats in Parliament in Barcelona for the first time. With 90 percent of the vote counted, it looks like the three independence parties will together win 74 of the 135 seats in Parliament, up from 70 in the last elections in December 2017.
The Spanish government had hoped that the separatists would lose their small majority in parliament. A little consolation for Madrid: The Spanish government party PSOE, called the PSC in Catalonia and which refuses to split, has made a profit. The Socialist Party won 33 seats, up from 17 in the previous election. However, the separatists ruled out cooperating with the party, making it nearly impossible for the party to govern.
Take advantage of the low turnout
Partly due to the Coronavirus, turnout among 5.5 million voters was clearly lower than last time, at the end of 2017. Separatists have a large number of loyal voters and suspect they will actually benefit from low turnout.
In the fall of 2017, the Catalan parliament declared independence, but Madrid immediately halted this.
