Advertisement

Updated March 26th, 2021 at 17:44 IST

Catalan parliament meets to elect next separatist chief

Catalonia’s regional parliament debated Friday whether to elect separatist Pere Aragonès as the next leader of Spain’s restive northeast corner.

| Image:self
Advertisement

Catalonia’s regional parliament debated Friday whether to elect separatist Pere Aragonès as the next leader of Spain’s restive northeast corner.

Recent public comments by parties in the parliament indicate that Aragonès will fall short of the support he needs in the highly fragmented legislature, at least in a first ballot.

Aragonès is Catalonia’s acting president and the candidate of the Republic Left of Catalonia, one of three parties in the chamber that supports a break from the rest of Spain.

So far, Aragonès can only count on the 33 votes of his party and the nine votes of the far-left, separatist CUP party. That leaves him far from the 68 “Yes” votes he needs for the required absolute majority of the 135-seat house.

A power struggle inside the pro-secession camp has left Aragonès without guarantees that he will collect the votes of Together for Catalonia’s 32 seats.

If he fails Friday, Aragonès will have a second opportunity in another vote in coming days, when the bar will be lowered and instead of an absolute majority he will simply need more votes for him than against him.

Pro-separatist politicians have controlled Catalonia’s government for the past decade as regional politics became radicalized amid Spain’s economic slump within the global recession.

A failed breakaway attempt in October 2017 by the Catalan government ended with several high-profile lawmakers and separatist activists in prison and others on the run in other European countries.

Over three years later, the relatively wealthy region of 7.5 million that speaks Catalan along with Spanish remains deeply divided. Roughly 50% of Catalans want to carve out an independent state, while the other half want to remain a part of Spain and see secession as a threat to their livelihoods and identity.

Advertisement

Published March 26th, 2021 at 17:44 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

TMC Delgation at ECI Office
7 minutes ago
Congress Press Conference
14 minutes ago
Raw Mango
14 minutes ago
Gen Z worker goes to the salon while “working from home”
16 minutes ago
Lionel Messi
18 minutes ago
Jailed Gangster Mukhtar Ansari Passes Away
19 minutes ago
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE
22 minutes ago
Tie-dye printed shirts
28 minutes ago
Sri Lanka on High Alert on Good Friday
28 minutes ago
Gautam Gambhir gets into a fight with Virat Kohli
29 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo