Separatists in Catalonia Win Narrow Majority in Regional Elections
By RAPHAEL MINDER

BARCELONA — Catalan separatist parties won a majority of the seats in regional parliamentary elections on Sunday that they had billed as a plebiscite on secession from Spain.

The result is set to intensify Catalonia’s drive toward independence, despite fierce opposition from Spain’s government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The separatist leaders have vowed to form a new regional government that will lead Catalonia to statehood within 18 months.

“We have a democratic mandate; we have won against all odds,” Artur Mas, the Catalan leader, told supporters in central Barcelona on Sunday night as votes were still being counted. “Just as we, as democrats, would have accepted defeat, we ask that others recognize the victory of Catalonia and the victory of the Yes” bloc for independence, he added.

Still, the separatist parties failed to win a majority of the votes on Sunday and face significant legal hurdles in converting their secessionist ambitions into a breakup of Spain. The government in Madrid has repeatedly warned that any breach of the Constitution would be struck down by the courts and could lead even to the suspension of Catalan secessionist politicians from office.

Pablo Casado, spokesman for Mr. Rajoy’s Popular Party, said Sunday night at a televised news conference that “we will continue to guarantee legality and the unity of Spain.” He called on Mr. Mas to resign or work to heal the divisions he had created within Catalonia. “Secessionism tried to split Spain but didn’t succeed, but it did manage to divide Catalonia,” Mr. Casado argued.

Even before Sunday’s vote, the separatist issue had plunged Spain into its most serious crisis since June 2012, when Mr. Rajoy was forced to negotiate a European banking bailout in the midst of the euro debt crisis.

The secessionist drive has gained momentum in recent years, but Sunday’s vote also showed the extent to which it had deeply split Catalonia’s 7.5 million citizens. With 98 percent of the votes tallied, the separatist parties had won the most parliamentary seats and about 48 percent of the votes amid a record turnout.

The standoff between Mr. Rajoy and Mr. Mas started in 2012 as a financial dispute over the tax contribution that wealthy Catalonia should make to poorer regions of Spain. Mr. Mas then turned his frustrated demand for fiscal concessions into a full-fledged drive for independence.

After voting on Sunday, Héctor Carnet, 35, an information technology administrator, said he would not have imagined voting for independence three years ago. “I’ve come to see that it’s better to go that way than stick with a Madrid government that hasn’t offered us any decent alternative,” he said.

But his wife, who declined to give her name, disagreed. “We need to build a stronger Europe rather than add new countries,” she said. “I don’t think it makes sense to fight for independence in the 21st century.”

The regional parliamentary elections were called by Mr. Mas, leader of Catalonia’s governing Convergence party. He presented it as a proxy vote on independence after Convergence agreed with the other main left-wing separatist party to run a joint list of candidates.

The joint “Together for Yes” list won 62 of the 135 seats in the Catalan Parliament, according to the preliminary count. That will translate into a majority if the “Yes” leaders can form a coalition with a far-left separatist party known by its Catalan acronym of CUP. CUP, which won 10 seats on Sunday, has opposed Mr. Mas’s public spending cuts and accused Convergence of widespread corruption after its founder admitted to tax evasion last year.

Raül Romeva, leader of the “Yes” list, told supporters on Sunday that “nobody can say that we don’t have legitimacy.”

But it is likely to remain contentious that under the Spanish system of proportional representation, separatist parties managed to win the most seats without a majority of votes. Opponents of secession argued that if separatist leaders wanted Sunday’s vote to be equated to a plebiscite, then votes counted more than parliamentary seats.

Opponents of secession have warned of significant economic problems on regional and national levels if Catalonia, which accounts for a fifth of Spain’s economic output, were to break away. The president of the Spanish central bank recently said that Catalan banks would be cut off from the funding of the European Central Bank, which has been critical for financial institutions that were crippled by the euro debt crisis and unchecked property lending.

European leaders have also recently waded into the debate, aware that any unilateral secession by Catalonia could send the European Union into uncharted waters. The European Union’s ability to produce a common response to crises has already been severely tested recently by a wave of migrants from Syria and other Middle Eastern and African countries. A Catalan secession could also fuel the separatist claims of other European regions.

During a recent visit to Madrid, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain suggested that if Catalonia seceded, it would have to reapply for European Union membership. Last September, Scots rejected independence in a referendum authorized by Mr. Cameron’s government.

Sunday’s vote took place two months before national elections that could also fragment Spanish politics, as two emerging parties threaten to help unseat Mr. Rajoy’s Popular Party.

The left-wing party Podemos, while calling on Catalans to remain within Spain, supports a referendum on independence. The main opposition Socialist party has also pledged a constitutional change that could turn Spain into a federation.

According to preliminary results in Catalonia, Mr. Rajoy’s Popular Party got 11 seats, down from 19 in 2012, allowing instead the Citizens party to become the clear leader of the anti-secession opposition in the next Catalan Parliament. The Citizens party won 25 seats on Sunday, up from nine in 2012. The Catalan version of Podemos won 11 seats on Sunday, while the Socialists came in third, with 16 seats.

With a possible year-end overhaul of the national government also in mind, Mr. Mas and other separatist leaders talked Sunday night about a victory for their secessionist project, but without making it clear whether or when a new Catalan government could declare unilateral independence.

Instead, Pedro Sánchez, leader of the Socialist party, underlined the failure of separatists to win a majority of votes and pledged to make a broader Spanish constitutional change to help reunite the country if the Socialists return to power in the national elections.

“We have a Catalonia divided in two blocs, and the task of those who form the new government should be to heal these wounds,” Mr. Sánchez said in a televised briefing from Madrid.

加泰隆尼亞 獨派贏了

西班牙加泰隆尼亞獨派政黨「一起說要」黨在廿七日的議會選舉獲勝，成為當地第一大黨，黨主席馬斯說，這是加泰隆尼亞爭取獨立與民主的雙重勝利。不過，獨派陣營得票率未超過五成，顯示民眾對是否走向獨立意見紛歧。

這次選舉投票率逾七成七，創下歷史新高。在總共一百卅五席的議會，「一起說要」黨贏得六十二席，同樣主張獨立的人民團結候選人黨十席，加起來已跨越過半數所需的六十八席；不過，兩黨得票率相加只有百分之四十七點八。有西班牙媒體指出，這顯示超過五成選民不支持獨立。

「一起說要」黨晚間在巴塞隆納的勝選之夜上，群眾歡欣鼓舞，領導人馬斯對群眾誓言要推動獨立，「我們要求全世界承認加泰隆尼亞的勝利，以及追求獨立的勝利」，並稱有足夠的力量推動獨立。

獨派政黨未來打算以聯合政府方式在議會內推動修法，促使加泰隆尼亞獨立。

不過，紐約時報指出，這條獨立之路仍有許多障礙。西班牙中央政府已多次警告，地方當局片面宣布獨立已違憲，違憲舉動將遭法院撤銷，相關官員會被勒令停職。另外，歐盟多位領袖和美國總統歐巴馬都不支持加泰隆尼亞片面宣布獨立，表示不希望西班牙分裂。

人口七百五十萬的加泰隆尼亞是西班牙最富庶的地區，去年人均所得約兩萬七千歐元，高於全西班牙平均。當地有獨特的語言文化，近七成三居民說加泰隆尼亞語，因此一直有獨立呼聲。

近年來西班牙發生債務危機引發嚴重不景氣，二○一二年總理拉荷義要求加泰隆尼亞地區的稅款多分配一些給其他較窮困地區，引發馬斯等政治人物和許多當地民眾反彈，獨派因此趁勢操作獨立運動。

加泰隆尼亞選舉 獨派勝

主張脫離西班牙獨立的陣營在加泰隆尼亞的議會選舉中掌握過半席次，但整體得票率未過半，可說是取得「歷史性、但不夠完整」的勝利。

這次投票率高達78%，刷新加泰區議會選舉的紀錄，幾乎比三年前的選舉高了近10個百分點。在議會135席中，獨立陣營大黨「一起說要」取得62席，成為當地有史以來最強大的政治勢力，更左傾但較小的人民團結候選人黨則取得10席，兩者合計掌握議會絕對多數。

然而，被視為反映加泰區選民獨立意願的兩黨得票率為47.8%，並未過半，代表兩黨並未取得適合推動獨立公投的支持率。

西班牙媒體對選舉結果看法分歧，加泰區日報La Vanguardia標題為「一起說要黨掌權」；中間偏右的馬德里日報El Mundo則強調「多數加泰人民對獨立說不」，最暢銷的日報El Pais則稱獨立陣營「贏了選舉，但輸掉公投」。

從獨立陣營得票率來看，加泰自治區要獨立並不容易，加上西班牙憲法不允許自治區脫離西班牙獨立，因此真正獨立的可能性可說相當低。選舉結果出爐後，西班牙總理維持一貫的強硬姿態，表示不會與加泰區新政府討論與「終結西班牙統一」有關的議題。德國政府發言人呼籲加泰區「尊重歐盟和西班牙法律」。

已有民調顯示，如果加泰隆尼亞能爭取到更有利的稅制、以及更能保障加泰隆尼亞語言和文化的法律，人民傾向留在西班牙。民調業者Metroscopia指出，很多選民即使不支持獨立，仍把票投給一起說要黨，目的是想在年底全國大選前爭取到更有利的條件。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/world/europe/separatists-in-catalonia-win-narrow-majority-in-regional-elections.html

Video：

On the evening of an election in Catalonia, separatists celebrated as exit polls gave them a majority of seats in the region’s Parliament.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000003941845/catalan-separatists-celebrate.html

Castell competitions in Catalonia feature human pyramids that build community and celebrate culture as the region debates independence from Spain.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000003222118/catalonians-climb-high-to-exhibit-pride.html

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