Catalonian separatists win regional elections

Pro-independence parties in the Catalonia region in Spain have won an absolute majority in regional elections, international media report.

The separatist alliance and a smaller nationalist party won 72 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament, but, the pro-independence parties fell just short of getting 50% of the vote, winning 1.9 million out of 4 million ballots cast.

The BBC reports that separatists say the victory gives them a clear mandate to form an independent Catalan state, and Spain's central government in Madrid has pledged to challenge any unilateral moves towards independence in court.

"We have won," Catalan regional President Artus Mas told his cheering supporters late on Sunday.

Following a celebratory rally, the pro-independence camp's leaders said they would now proceed towards the creation of an independent Catalan state.

"We have a clear, absolute majority in the Catalan parliament to go ahead," Mas said.

Pablo Casado, spokesman for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's party, insisted that the separatists had "failed" by not securing a majority of votes.

"This election should serve to end the independence debate once and for all," the AFP reports him saying.

Spain's government has consistently dismissed any secession plans as "nonsense", but the pro-independence parties said ahead of the vote that they considered it a de facto referendum on independence from Spain.

The separatists say that the Spanish government has consistently refused to allow a legally recognised referendum to take place, ignoring an unofficial vote backing independence in November 2014.