Pro-independence parties suffer setback in Catalonia vote

(CN) — Catalonia’s independence drive suffered a major setback in regional elections on Sunday after voters flocked to pro-union parties, giving the center-left Socialists the win and right-wing parties a boost. But by Monday, it was unclear who could cobble together a new government from the fragmented results.

The outcome clearly showed the mood in Catalonia is souring against independence and that a shift to the right is taking place in a Spanish region long known for its left-wing politics.

It was the first time in 14 years that pro-independence parties did not win the regional parliamentary election, a result that left many Spanish pundits wondering whether Catalonia’s independence movement is petering out.

The Socialist Party of Catalonia, which opposes Catalan independence though it favors more regional autonomy, won with 28% of the vote and gained 42 seats in the regional parliament (far short of the 68 needed for a majority).

Its success was attributed to Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sànchez’s policies of reconciliation over Catalonia after he took office in 2018 and ended his right-wing predecessors’ harsh crackdown against Catalan secessionists for holding an illegal independence referendum in 2017.

To ease tensions between the national government in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain’s business capital, Sanchez issued pardons for convicted Catalan leaders and he’s backed granting amnesty for Catalans facing prosecution for their involvement in pro-independence activities.

“Catalonia has decided to open a new era,” Salvador Illa, the Socialist leader in Catalonia, told supporters Sunday night.

But Illa faced tough negotiations to form a government after the main pro-independence party on the left, the Republican Left of Catalonia, suffered a drubbing and said it did not want to enter a coalition. The party lost 13 seats and its leader, acting Catalan President Pere Aragonès, said it was time for his party to go into opposition.

Aragonès took responsibility for the loss and announced he was stepping away from front-line politics.

Carles Puigdemont, the self-exiled former Catalan president who fled to Belgium after overseeing the 2017 referendum, was the clear winner among the pro-independence parties. His right-wing Together for Catalonia took in 21.6% of the vote and gained three seats in parliament, bringing that party’s total to 35 seats.

After the election, Puigdemont vowed to carry on the fight for independence and called on other separatist parties to join him in forming a government. But his prospects seemed dim.

“We can put together a coherent majority — not an absolute one, but it would be bigger than Illa’s,” Puigdemont said, speaking from a French town on the border with Catalonia where he campaigned. “The main thing is to ensure Catalonia has a government that can work and that can stand up to Madrid.”

Puigdemont is hoping to return to Spain once the recently passed Catalan amnesty bill becomes law, though his reentry remains uncertain after Spanish authorities opened a terrorist probe against him for his possible involvement in disruptive pro-independence activities such as the occupation of the Barcelona airport in 2019.

It remains in doubt whether the amnesty law would shield him from terrorism charges.

Sunday’s election also was noteworthy for the rise in support for right-wing parties. The center-right Popular Party, which ordered the brutal crackdown on the Catalan referendum in 2017, got 11% of the vote and its number of seats in the regional parliament jumped from 3 to 15.

Meanwhile, Vox, a far-right party that’s put fighting Catalan independence at its core, retained its 11 seats in the parliament while a new far-right pro-independence party, Catalan Alliance, got 3.8% of the vote, enough to secure it two seats for the first time.

The poor outcome for Catalan separatists may complicate national politics because Sanchez’s left-leaning minority government relies on votes from Catalan parties to pass legislation.

Political analysts said Puigdemont may be tempted to reenergize the independence movement by opposing Sanchez with the aim of forcing new national elections that could lead to a right-wing government taking power in Madrid. Such a government could possibly vow to snuff out Barcelona’s ambitions to secede and in doing so breathe new life into the secessionist drive.

Catalonia has long been divided over the question of independence, but support has waned in recent years. The Center for Opinion Studies, a polling agency run by the Catalan government, found almost 49% of Catalans favored independence in 2017 but that support has dropped to about 41.5%, according to Maldita.es, a Spanish news outlet.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau