CENTRE-RIGHT Ciudadanos has won the regional elections in Catalunya, but the pro-independence parties combined have scooped up an outright majority, leaving the political situation in the north-eastern region hanging in the balance.
Ciudadanos, led by Inés Arrimadas, netted nearly 1.1 million votes and 37 seats out of the total of 135, compared with just 25 in the 2015 regional election.
Exiled president Carles Puigdemont's party, Junts per Catalunya ('Together for Catalunya', or JxCat) won 936,000 votes and 34 seats, whilst the Catalunya Left Republicans (ERC) came third with 32 seats.
These two parties ran as a coalition in 2015, winning 62 seats, meaning their combined total has now gone up to 66.
If they were to band together and form a coalition with the staunchly-separatist CUP, which has four seats and 192,000 votes, they would have 70 out of 135 and a combined outright majority.
The socialists, or PSC, is fourth with just under 600,000 votes and17 seats – one more than in 2015 - which their leader Miquel Iceta is disappointed with, saying: “We have not achieved our aim, even though our result has improved.”
The regional branch of left-wing Podemos, CatComú-Podem – which is not in favour of independence, but believes a democratic and legal referendum should be held at least on an advisory basis – won eight seats with 321,000 votes.
Finally, the right-wing PP – the same party as in national government – came last with just three seats and 182,000 votes.
PP leader in the region Xavier Albiol says: “This is a bad result, and we're worried about the future of Catalunya.”
Meanwhile, from Brussels, Puigdemont says: “The Republic of Catalunya has won out against the Monarch of 155,” referring to the Article of the Spanish Constitution which was triggered after the disputed independence referendum by the national government, forcing the election and taking control of the region for the first time in Spain's democratic history.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com