Early count shows over 80 per cent of Catalans want independence

Over 80 per cent of the roughly two million people who took part in a symbolic independence referendum in Spain’s wealthy region of Catalonia on Sunday voted in favour of independence, early results showed. Of the 2,043,226 ballots counted so far, 80.7 percent or 1,649,239 voted yes to both questions, Catalan vice president Joana Ortega told a news conference. The poll was held in the face of fierce opposition from the Spanish government, and despite a constitutional court ruling to suspend the exercise. In the wake of its results, Catalan independence leader Artur Mas said his government would now push to hold an official referendum and would seek international support to help convince the Spanish government to let it go ahead.

But if they have a minimum of common sense I think any action out of the ordinary [to prevent the vote] would be a direct attack on democracy and a direct attack on fundamental rights.

Catalan leader Artur Mas

In the poll, voters were asked for their response to two questions. The first was: “Do you want Catalonia to be a state?”. If answered affirmatively, the ballot paper posed a second question: “Do you want that state to be independent?”. Just over 10 per cent voted yes for the the first question and no for the second while 4.5 per cent voted no to both questions. Meanwhile, a furious Spain dismissed the vote as “useless”, as state prosecutors continue investigating whether Catalan authorities breached court injunctions by opening polling stations in schools and other public buildings to “assess the existence of criminal liability”.

The government considers this to be a day of political propaganda organised by pro-independence forces and devoid of any kind of democratic validity.

Rafael Catala, Spanish justice minister

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