- The separatists suffered a historic defeat in the early parliamentary elections in Catalonia on Sunday.
- For the first time since 1980, the various pro-independence parties together missed out on an absolute majority of seats in the Barcelona parliament.
- The big winner of the election was the Socialist Party, which gained nine seats and became by far the strongest force.
With 42 seats, they are far from an absolute majority (68). According to the preliminary official results, the conservative-liberal party Junts of the separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who lives in exile in Belgium, came second behind the Socialists with 35 seats.
According to observers, the 61-year-old has no real chance of gathering enough support to form a government. The also separatist Republican Left (ERC) under the previous regional president Pere Aragonès only took third place with 20 seats (-13). Together, the four separatist parties only got 61 seats. They lost 13.
Legend:
A supporter of Pudigdemont wears the peaked cap with an “Estelada”, the flag of the Catalan separatists (Junts Per Catalunya).
REUTERS/Nacho Doce
Spain’s largest opposition party, the conservative PP, which has traditionally had a difficult time in Catalonia, improved significantly by eleven seats to now 14. The right-wing populist Vox maintained its result with eleven seats.
Illa wants to become regional president
Analysts unanimously viewed the election result as a major triumph for the left-wing central government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Madrid, 600 kilometers away. With his reconciliation policy and his concessions, Sánchez has largely defused the conflict in Catalonia and completely taken the wind out of the sails of the separatists – who traditionally view Madrid as “enemy number one” – it was said in a panel on the public broadcaster RTVE.
In his victory speech, the Socialist leading candidate Salvador Illa continued the reconciliation course of the Socialist leader Sánchez and promised: “No Catalan will be excluded from this new stage that begins today.”
Legend:
“Today a new era begins in Catalonia, which is intended to improve the lives of citizens, expand rights and strengthen coexistence,” wrote Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (right) about the election victory of the Socialists with leading candidate Salvador Illa (left).
EPA/Enric Fontcuberta
He wants to become regional president so that Catalonia can become Spain’s leading economic region again. To the loud cheers of his supporters, Illa shouted: “For the first time, the Socialist Party has won the elections in Catalonia in terms of votes and seats!”
For the election as regional president in the parliament in Catalonia, Illa needs above all and absolutely the support of the Republican Left, which has not yet made a clear statement on this. Party leader Aragonès initially said that they would go into opposition, but that would not preclude tolerating the Socialists.