BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – The pro-Union Socialist Party claimed a narrow victory in Catalonia’s regional elections late on Sunday, but the bloc of parties supporting secession in the north-eastern corner of Spain has extended its control over the regional parliament.
With 99% of the votes counted, the three main parties committed to creating an independent Catalan state increased their seats in the regional parliament to 74. In 2017, the same parties won 70 seats in the 135-member chamber. places, only two over the majority.
The Socialist Party led by former Health Minister Salvador Illa was ready to take 33 seats with more than 625,000 votes. The pro-secessionist republican left of Catalonia also had to claim 33 seats, but with 580,000 votes.
But despite the huge boost in support for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party, which has been in talks with separatists in an attempt to ease tensions with the region, Illa will have a difficult time trying to gather support for a government. He would need the support of several parties, including some separatists.
“This is a clear victory, which has only one reading: It’s time to turn the page, write a new chapter, stretch each other and move forward together,” Illa said after his victory.
The result confirms that pro-separatist sentiment has not abated despite the collective suffering of the COVID-19 pandemic and a frustrated October 2017 secession auction that left several of its members in prison.
However, it was unclear whether the separatist parties would be able to overcome the fighting that affected their bloc, since the dream of a slight break in Spain proved difficult.
The results shifted power from the pro-secession camp to the Republican left-wing party of Catalonia, whose 33 seats surpassed the center-right Together for Catalonia, winning 32 seats.
The Republican left of Catalonia, imprisoned leader Oriol Junqueras, can now contest the leadership of the bloc with Together for Catalonia, the party of former Catalan leader Carles Puidemont, who fled to Belgium following an ineffective separatist bid in 2017.
Together for Catalonia, it maintains a more radical position in terms of severing ties with Spain in the short term, while the Republican Left in Catalonia has lowered its tone in the last year and decided to win an amnesty from central authorities for Junqueras and other leaders closed as a top priority – for now.
Adrià Hoguet, a 29-year-old banker, changed his vote from Together for Catalonia to the Republican Left of Catalonia.
“Even if it wants an independent Catalonia, the party knows it will not be easy and it cannot be achieved by simply plowing forward, because we have seen that it will not work,” Hoguet said after voting in Barcelona.
The region’s parliament was also prepared to become more fragmented and radical.
The far-right party Vox has entered the Catalan legislature for the first time with 11 seats, confirming its growth throughout Spain in recent years. His success came at the expense of the Conservative People’s Party, which was left with three seats after a campaign in which it softened its tough stance against Catalan secessionists.
On the other side of the spectrum, the far-left, pro-secessionist CUP party has improved to nine of the four seats it won in 2017. So, once again, pro-secessionist forces will need the unpredictable CUP to to form the majority.
A potential regional government is likely to depend on agreements between the parties, which could take several days or more to conclude.
The use of face masks and hand sanitizer has been mandatory at polling stations, as Spain is battling another increase in infections for a country that has lost more than 64,000 lives to COVID-19.
For the 29-year-old social worker, Andrea Marín, the pandemic has increased her desire to continue the union.
“I voted for the Socialists because I do not want my vote to be separatist,” she said. “I am already spending a lot of money to promote the separatist cause when what matters today is the economy and the end of the pandemic.”
Fears about viruses, bad weather and the lack of a concrete proposal by separatists to break up again in the near future seemed to diminish voter turnout, which fell to 55% from a record turnout of 79% in December 2017. this seemed to favor pro-secession parties, which do better in rural areas that are over-represented in electoral legislation.
So while the Socialists have risen to the detriment of liberal citizens, who fell to six seats after winning the December 2017 elections by 36, the Catalan political landscape has remained unchanged in the key question: the Mediterranean region on the border with France is still about divided between those who support the creation of a Catalan state and those who are fervent to remain a part of Spain.
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Associated Press journalist Renata Brito contributed to the report.