Six and a half years later, the independence parties that have ruled Catalonia for a decade lost their majority in the regional parliament on Sunday (May 12), according to partial results of regional elections won by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists. Since 2017 separatist attempt.
After 73% of the votes were counted, the three independent groups that have so far held the majority of seats in the regional parliament only secured 59 seats on Sunday, but an absolute majority is set at 68.
In detail, Carles Puigdemont’s party, Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), won 35 seats. The other major separatist party, current regional leader Pere Aragones’ ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia), lost several seats with 20 seats, while the other far-left independent party, the CUP, gained 4 seats. During the previous regional elections in February 2021, these three parties won a total of 74 seats.
Coalition needed by socialists
In a clear lead, Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists won 42 seats, but will need to find allies to rise to power in the region. The most plausible hypothesis, according to analysts, is that they are allied with the radical left, with whom Mr. Sánchez governs Spain, but even with the ERC, this would end the unity of coalition independence.
Pedro Sánchez has made the election a central issue of his mandate, hoping to show that Catalonia has retreated from its separatist aspirations. This prosperous region of northeastern Spain, home to eight million people and one of the country’s economic and industrial engines, tried to secede in 2017 when Carles Puigdemont was president of the region. The crisis is one of the worst Spain has experienced since Spain returned to democracy after the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975.
“Total coffee junkie. Tv ninja. Unapologetic problem solver. Beer expert.”