Catalan leader Artur Mas vowed to step up the push for independence after early results from Sunday’s symbolic vote showed that four out of five voters in the region backed breaking away from Spain.
With more than 2m votes cast, Mas called the symbolic referendum a “lesson in democracy, spelled out in capital letters”. He said he would send a letter on Monday to Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, urging him to confront “the Catalan question” with a formal, binding referendum on independence.
“We want to decide a new political future. All nations have a right to do so and mature democracies respect that,” said Mas.
After months of tense legal wrangling between Madrid and Barcelona, Catalan leaders were forced to water down their plans for a formal referendum and turn it into a symbolic vote, staffed by 41,000 volunteers and voters who registered on the spot.
Until polling stations opened on Sunday morning, doubts remained as to whether the vote would take place.
On Sunday, the atmosphere on the streets of Barcelona was festive, as young and old made their way to polling stations across the city, some wrapped in Catalan flags and others snapping selfies as they cast their ballots.
Voters were asked two questions: whether Catalonia should be a state, and if they replied yes, they were asked if it should be an independent state. Early results showed that 80.7% of voters replied yes to both questions, said the Catalan vice-president, Joana Ortega.
Just over 10% voted yes to the first question and no to the second, while 4.5% voted no to both questions. While there was no formal electoral roll, the regional government said that 5.4 million Catalans and resident foreigners were eligible to vote.
Pro-independence groups hoped that a large turnout would prompt central government to negotiate tax and political autonomy with the region or pave the way for a formal referendum.
“Even if it’s symbolic, at least we’ll show we want to express our opinion and have some sort of result to push the process forward,” said one pro-independence supporter, Felipe Alcalde Rodríguez, after voting. “This is our attempt to be democratic in a state that doesn’t respect democracy.”
