With almost 100% of the votes counted, the election results are as good as known in Catalonia. Although Salvador Illa’s socialist party is the big winner, there appears to be a lot of support for the parties fighting for the independence of Spain.
Majority for independence parties Catalonia despite PSC gains
Gains were predicted last week for the PSC, Junts per Catalunya, and the ERC LINK. These polls appear to have been released on Sunday 14 February with some surprises.
Independence parties lead together with socialist PSC
Salvador Illa’s socialist party, the PSC, made big gains in the elections. The PSC ends in a tie with the separatist ERC. The PSC received almost 23% of the vote and the ERC received 21.3%, which means both parties have 33 seats.
The Junts per Catalunya, which strives for independence, will also receive 32 seats. And the extreme right-wing party Vox achieves a place in the Generalitat for the first time. Furthermore, Vox captured 11 seats in the Catalan parliament from scratch on Sunday. As a result, they push moderate right-wing parties, Partido Popular (3 seats) and Ciudadanos (6 seats) further into the background. The separatist CUP received nine seats on Sunday and En Comú gets eight seats.
The three separatist parties most in favor of secession from Spain – the ERC, Junts per Catalunya, and the CUP – jointly won 74 of the 135 seats. With this, the independence party received four additional seats compared to the 2017 elections.
Coalition government difficult in Catalonia
Although Illa’s socialist party emerges as the absolute winner, insiders say it is becoming difficult to form a coalition government with other independence parties. The separatist parties are said to have made a pact with each other not to rule together with the socialists.
Much support for Catalonia’s independence from Spain
In these elections, it was particularly exciting to see how strong support was for the separatist front. Looking at the election results, the parties striving for independence still appear to have considerable supporters. When the large gain for separatist parties was known, the winners immediately put the “independence of Catalonia” on the table. This will be one of the main topics for discussion.
Lower turnout due to Covid-19
Millions of Catalans went to the polls on Sunday, despite strict corona measures. The turnout of 54% was, however, lower than in 2017 as many people chose not vote for fear of Covid-19. All polling stations were thoroughly and regularly disinfected to enable the Catalans could vote as safely as possible. Employees in the polling stations were equipped with protective clothing similar to staff in the hospitals.
