Catalans cast votes in unofficial independence referendum

Catalans go to the polls on Sunday morning in a crucial region election that has been described as the most important in Spain’s recent history, with opinion polls pointing to a win by supporters of a candidate who has pledged to declare the region independent.

Formally the purpose of the vote is to decide the membership of Catalonia’s 135-seat regional government. But after the central government in Madrid shut down attempts by Catalan leaders to hold a referendum on independence, nationalists called early elections that could act as a quasi-referendum on whether the north-eastern region should seek to break away from Spain.

Voting stations opened at 07:00 GMT on Sunday in Spain's richest region of 7.5 million people where separatist feeling has increased in the recent years of economic crisis.

Artur Mas, Catalonia's nationalist president, told a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters as he was wrapping up election campaign on Friday that the vote would “lead to freedom”.

“Sunday is a special day for the future of Catalonia. It is a historic day,” he said. Mas has promised to launch a roadmap towards independence by 2017 if he wins a majority in the regional parliament.

Pro-independence coalition Junts pel Sí, made up of nationalists from the left and right as well as grassroots activists, have pledged to begin the process of Catalan independence. Far-left Popular Unity, or CUP as the party is known in Spanish, is also committed to unilaterally breaking away from Spain.

Leftist coalition Catalunya Sí que es Pot, backed by parties including ICV and Podemos, have said they favour a referendum on independence.

Opinion polls show the conservative Mas and his left-wing allies in the pro-independence list Together For Yes could win that majority and nearly half the votes overall.

For his part, Mariano Rajoy, Spanish prime minister, urged voters to return Catalonia to “normality”.

“There is a majority of Catalans who love their people and love their land, and do not want to see it amputated from Spain and from Europe,” he told supporters.