Pro-independence parties win Catalonia elections

They won only about 48 percent.

Nationalists in Catalonia, which has its own language and cultural traditions, complain that they get less back from Madrid than they pay in taxes. “We ask the world to recognize the victory of Catalonia and the victory of “Yes”.

“If the state shows no will to negotiate, we will do it anyway, because we have a mandate”, Romeva told AFP. But we have won and that gives us an fantastic strength and legitimacy to carry out this project.

An exit poll from Sunday’s elections in Catalonia indicates that the pro-independence parties are likely to win an absolute majority in the regional parliament, making a collision with Madrid over independence inevitable.

Ciudadanos’ leader Albert Rivera branded Sunday’s vote a defeat for Mas, whom he dismissed as a relic of “old politics”.Rajoy had yet to react early Monday, but his party spokesman Casado argued Mas had “failed” by not winning a majority of votes.

“Said declaration of independence wouldn’t have any effect, not internally, not externally, because it wouldn’t be recognized by any state”, he said.

Turnout was high at more than 77 per cent after weeks of tense and emotional campaigning in which Spain’s leaders warned Catalonia’s place in the European Union was at stake.

The results suggest the Popular Unity Candidacy Party (CUP) would emerge as a kingmaker in negotiations to push an independence effort forward that the central government in Madrid says would be illegal. The two parties together received 47.7 percent of the vote, so by a slim margin the popular vote was actually won by anti-independence parties.

September 11, 2012: At the height of Spain’s economic crisis, more than a million people protest in Barcelona demanding independence for Catalonia.

“Catalonia decides its future in Europe”, ran the front-page headline in the centre-right national daily El Mundo.

Ciutadans’ leader in Catalonia, Ines Arrimadas, on Sunday night demanded Mas’ resignation and for a new election to be held “that include parties and programs, and not coalitions”.

Mas and his allies “must be frightened at the mere prospect of that alliance”, El Mundo said in an editorial.

“That guy is a liar”, said Francisco Serrano, a 70-year-old former labourer in the Barcelona suburb of Santa Coloma de Gramenet who voted against independence. “If they stop paying our pensions that will affect me”, said Galobart.

School teacher Sandra Guerrero, 30, said that these elections motivated her to vote for the first time – for the anti-independence Citizens party. After all the tricks they have played I feel very happy. El Mundo, a leading Spanish daily, was headlined: “The majority of Catalans say no to independence”.