PRESIDENT of Catalunya Artur Mas has decided to go ahead with the public consultation on November 9 whether or not the Constitutional Court eventually sanctions it in time.
He says he wants residents and citizens of Catalunya to 'be able to exercise their right to vote'.
Yesterday (Thursday) Mas officially set up the electoral board and chose its members, despite the legality of what is effectively a non-binding referendum being up in the air.
The Constitutional Court has not outlawed the public consultation as yet, but given that time is running out, it has suspended the law reform recently signed by Mas allowing it to go ahead in response to a formal objection by the central government, in order to stall for time and investigate further.
Unlike the recent Scotland independence referendum, Mas does not intend to seek a decisive vote either way at this stage, but says he wants to know 'what the people want'.
If a majority 'yes' vote on independence were to arise, he would then 'cross that bridge when he came to it', he confirmed.
Independent parties CiU (Convergència i Unió), ERC (Esquerra Republicana Catalana, or 'Left Republican'), ICV-EUiA and CUP met this morning and elected members of the consultation committee.
Mas pointedly did not choose the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Francisco Pérez de los Cobos, or magistrate Pedro José González-Trevijano, and called for them to abstain from any intervention at regional government level in the process.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com