ZCZC
BFF-10
SPAIN-CATALONIA-POLITICS
Jailed or in exile, leaders wrap up Catalan election campaign
BARCELONA, Dec 20, 2017 (BSS/AFP) – Campaigning drew to a close on Tuesday in Catalonia’s regional election, a potential turning point in Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
The atypical campaign ended with deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont holding a rally via videolink from exile in Belgium and another candidate rallying voters from behind bars in Spain.
Thursday’s voting pits leaders of the wealthy northeastern region’s separatist movement against candidates who want to stay part of a unified Spain.
Voters are highly mobilised and a record turnout is expected, but with pro- and anti-independence candidates neck-and-neck in opinion polls neither side is likely to win a clear majority.
The election is being closely watched across a European Union still reeling from Britain’s shock decision to leave and wary about any breakup of the eurozone’s fourth largest economy.
It has inflamed passions not just in Catalonia but across Spain, whose government took the unprecedented step of stripping the region of its autonomy after its parliament declared independence on October 27.
“This is not a normal election,” Puigdemont told supporters in a final, virtual rally via videolink from self-imposed exile in Brussels.
“What is at stake is not who gets the most votes, but whether the country (Catalonia) or (Spanish Prime Minister Mariano) Rajoy wins” the standoff, he added.
– Independence on hold –
But with their camp in disarray, secessionists would likely put their independence drive on hold should they win Thursday’s vote.
“Even if a pro-independence government is formed it will be very cautious how it acts because it won’t want to lose the restored authority the Catalan government has,” Andrew Dowling, contemporary historian in Hispanic studies at Cardiff University, told AFP.
“It won’t want to see that suspended again,” he added.
MORE/AU/08:15 hrs