BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – The pro-union Socialist Party claimed a narrow victory in regional elections in Catalonia late Sunday, but the bloc of parties supporting the secession in Spain’s northeastern corner broadened their control over the regional parliament.
With 99% of the votes counted, the three main parties pledging to form an independent Catalan state increased their number of seats in the regional parliament to 74. In 2017, those same parties won 70 seats from the chamber with 135 seats, just two above majority.
The socialist party led by former Health Minister Salvador Illa was on the verge of taking 33 seats with more than 625,000 votes. Catalonia’s republican left would also claim 33 seats, but with 580,000 votes.
But despite the massive support for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party, who has held talks with the separatists in an effort to ease tensions with the region, it will be difficult for Illa to rally support for a government. He would need the support of various parties, including some separatists.
“This is a clear victory that has only one reading: it’s time to turn the page, write a new chapter, reach out and move on together,” Illa said after his victory.
The outcome confirms that pro-separatist sentiment has not abated despite the collective suffering of the COVID-19 pandemic and a frustrated secession bid in October 2017, leaving several members in prison.
However, it was not clear whether the separatist parties would be able to overcome the fighting that plagued their bloc as the dream of an easy escape from Spain proved elusive.
The results shifted power within the pro-secession camp to the left-wing Republican party of Catalonia’s Left, whose 33 seats came from the center-right Together for Catalonia and would win 32 seats.
The Republican Left of Catalonia of imprisoned leader Oriol Junqueras can now challenge the leadership of the bloc with Together for Catalonia, the party of former Catalan chief Carles Puidemont, who fled to Belgium after 2017’s ineffective escape bid.
Together for Catalonia maintains a more radical stance on cutting ties with Spain in the short term, while the Republican Left of Catalonia has lowered its tone over the past year and makes winning an amnesty from central authorities for Junqueras and other imprisoned leaders a top priority established – for now.
Adrià Hoguet, a 29-year-old working in banking, moved his voice from Together for Catalonia to the Republican Left of Catalonia.
“Even though it wants an independent Catalonia, the party knows that it will not be easy and cannot be achieved by just plowing ahead, as we have seen that it will not work,” Hoguet said after casting his vote in Barcelona. .
The region’s parliament was also on the cusp of becoming more fragmented and radical.
The far-right Vox party first joined the Catalan legislature with 11 seats, confirming the surge in Spain in recent years. Its success came at the expense of the conservative People’s Party, which was left with three seats after a campaign softening its previously tough stance against Catalan separatists.
At the other end of the spectrum, the far-left, pro-secession CUP party improved to nine out of four it won in 2017. So again, the pro-secession forces will need the unpredictable CUP to form a majority.
A potential regional government will likely depend on making deals between parties that could take days or more to complete.
The use of face masks and hand sanitizer was mandatory at polling stations as Spain faces a new spike in infections for a country that has lost more than 64,000 lives to COVID-19.
For 29-year-old social worker Andrea Marín, the pandemic increased her desire for a continued union.
“I voted for the Socialists because I don’t want my vote to go to the Separatists,” she said. “They are already spending a lot of money promoting the separatist cause, even though today it is about the economy and ending the pandemic.”
Virus fear, bad weather and the lack of a concrete proposal from separatists to provoke another split in the near future seemed to dampen voter participation, which fell to 55%, from a record turnout of 79% in December 2017. to be beneficial to processional parties, which do better in rural areas that are over-represented in electoral law.
So while the socialists rose at the expense of the liberal citizens, who plummeted to six seats after winning the December 2017 elections with 36, the Catalan political panorama remained unchanged in the essential question: the Mediterranean area bordering France is still roughly divided between those who support the creation of a Catalan state, and those who are eager to remain part of Spain.
Associated Press journalist Renata Brito contributed to this report.