Catalonia election: Anti-independence party wins

The Ciudadanos party won the regional elections but the separatists still have a majority in Catalonia's new parliament.

For the first time in Catalonia's history, a pro-unified Spanish party – Ciudadanos – won the regional elections, but the separatists still hold a majority in Catalonia's new Parliament.

As of 0:30 a.m. on December 22 (local time) in Catalonia, more than 4 hours after the polls closed, 99% of the votes had been counted. As a result, the Ciudadanos party - the Citizens' Party, which advocates protecting the Spanish Constitution and the unity and integrity of Spain - won the election with about 26% of the total votes of Catalan voters, equivalent to 37 seats in the Catalan Parliament.

Voters express their sincerity when casting their ballots in Barcelona. Photo: AFP/Getty

Coming in second is the “Together for Catalonia” party of the former Catalan government leader in exile in Belgium, Mr. Carles Puigdemont, with 34 seats. Coming in third is the left-wing Catalan Republican Party – ERC, which tends towards secession, with 32 seats.

This is the first time in the history of the past four decades, since Catalonia became an autonomous region of Spain, that a party that does not support Catalonia's independence from Spain has become the region's largest political party.

However, this spectacular breakthrough of the Citizens Party still cannot prevent the three parties following the Catalan secessionist trend, the ERC, “Together for Catalonia” (JxCAT) and CUP, from still winning a majority of seats in the Catalan Parliament, which is 70 seats, meaning that in theory these parties can join together to form a new government in Catalonia.

The results of this election recorded two very notable points: for the first time a non-separatist party became the largest political party in Catalonia, but the total number of separatists still held the majority.

In an election where turnout was around 82%, this fact sends two very clear messages.

Firstly, there is a large number of Catalans who still want the region to belong to Spain and they show this by voting to make the Civic-Ciudadanos party the largest political party in the region.

Second, they are also dissatisfied with the way the Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is handling the Catalonia crisis, so they still vote for separatist parties to show their opposition. This is more evident in the fact that Mr. Rajoy's People's Party (PP) only won 3 seats, less than 1/3 of the number it had 2 years ago.

The message from Catalan voters here is clear: Catalonia does not want to secede from Spain, but their voice needs to be heard. This may be a defeat for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and therefore, will force him to make policy adjustments in the coming time.

Finally, with the pro-secessionist faction still holding a majority in the Catalan Parliament, the scenario for the formation of a new government in Catalonia in the coming days remains relatively difficult to predict because Mr. Puigdemont is still in exile in Belgium and there is still a major conflict between the "Together for Catalonia" party and the left-wing Republican Party ERC./.

According to VOV