Unofficial vote in towns and villages in Spain's north-east region comes as constitutional court set to rule on autonomy charter
- Giles Tremlett in Madrid
- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 December 2009 20.30 GMT
- Article history
Several hundred thousand people in small towns and villages across Catalonia voted today in an emblematic, if partial and unofficial, referendum on whether Spain's north-east region should declare independence.
The referendum was held in towns and municipalities that are home to 15% of voters in an economically powerful region of 7 million inhabitants. Polling stations were manned by separatists and were mostly set up in areas of strong support.
Joan Laporta, the president of Champions League-winning football club Barcelona, has emerged as one of the figureheads of the independence movement. He told El País newspaper: "We are a nation and I want us to have a state of our own."
The only result available early today came from the village of Sant Jaume de Frontanyà, where 19 of the 20 who went to the polling station voted in favour.
While even the organisers recognised the result would not provide an accurate measure of separatist feeling within Catalonia, they claimed to be breaking ground for a region-wide vote in the future.
Most observers agreed, however, that such a vote was unlikely any time soon as separatist sentiment was weak and a valid referendum needed the approval of the Spanish parliament in Madrid. Separatist parties won 14% in the last elections to the Catalan regional parliament in 2006.
"A vote on separatism would show that Catalonia wants to remain Spanish," said Artur Mas, leader of Catalonia's moderate nationalist Convergence and Union coalition, in a recent newspaper interview.
Today's vote comes as Spain's constitutional court prepares to rule on a charter of autonomy, which increased the regional government's powers in 2006.
The country's rightwing opposition People's party, which receives few Catalan votes, lodged an appeal against the charter. The court's deliberations have dragged on for three years and it was reportedly set to strike out significant sections – including those that give greater judicial autonomy, establish a bilateral relationship with central government or define Catalonia as a "nation".
An expected decision against the charter has already provoked a dozen Catalan newspapers to publish a joint editorial in defence of "the dignity" of Catalonia.
Spain's 1978 constitution confusingly defines Catalonia as a "nationality". This was seen as an attempt to fudge a difficult and divisive issue as the country returned to democracy after four decades of Francisco Franco's centralist dictatorship.
The court must now, in effect, decide on the limits of devolving power to Catalonia and other independently minded regions like the Basque country and Galicia.
Spain's socialist deputy prime minister, Manuel Chaves, dismissed today's vote as a piece of stage-managed political propaganda, adding: "It does not have the value, the format or the coverage of a real referendum."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...ependence-vote