News

Rajoy: Nov 9 vote was "failure", no dialogue possible over official referendum on Catalonia's independence

Spanish President says poll had "special gravity" since it was held "in breach of Constitutional Court resolutions" · Rajoy says Catalan Parliament could launch "process of constitutional reform", warns his government and his Popular Party will oppose such an idea

Spanish government President Mariano Rajoy said today he will not enter in any dialogue or negotiation with the Catalan government to call a referendum on Catalonia's independence. Rajoy recalled that Article 1 of the Spanish Constitution states that the Spanish people as a whole is vested with sovereignty, and that he will not make any move that could lead to break it. Rajoy confirmed that any dialogue in which he could participate "must always, always be under the framework of limits established by the Constitution."

Speaking about the Nov 9 non-binding vote on independence, Rajoy said it was an "intense failure" and an "act of political propaganda." Rajoy further said that the vote had "special gravity" since it was held "in breach of Constitutional Court resolutions."

The vote was organized by the Catalan government despite an order to suspend it by Spain's Constitutional Court. Out of 6.2 million potential voters -including 900,000 foreigners-, more than 2.3 million Catalans participated in the vote. Thousands more are still casting their votes, since the process is open till Nov 25. This most likely will put the final turnout at some 39% of the potential voters. No postal voting was allowed, less polling stations than usual were opened, and Spanish pro-union parties called for boycott.

But the Spanish President belives that "the pro-independence project showed its weakness" because, according to him, "less than one third" of potential voters cast their ballots on Sunday. Furthermore, Rajoy suggested that the Nov 9 turnout data are not reliable.

According to Rajoy, there is only one way to have a referendum on independence held: "The Parliament of Catalonia has the power to launch a process of constitutional reform" leading to the recognition of the right to self-determination. But Rajoy warned that he, his government and his Popular Party (PP) will oppose such a reform.

After Rajoy spoke this morning, Main Spanish opposition party PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez said Rajoy should accept a constitutional reform towards a new, federal framework for Spain.

What next?

Catalonia's President Artur Mas said last week that the last option to hold a politically -yet not legally- binding vote on independence was to turn an ordinary Catalan Parliament election into a plebiscite on secession. According to Mas, if pro-independence parties get a majority of votes and MPs, then a democratic mandate for secession from Spain will exist.

Yet, it is unclear how that "plebiscite election" -as it is called in Catalonia- will be held. Mas and his CDC party want all pro-independence parties to run under a joint "yes list" -possibly led by Mas himself- in order to get the absolute majority. The Catalan government would then be politically entitled to negotiate independence with the Spanish government.

But two other pro-independence parties (social democratic ERC and democratic socialist CUP) reject such a joint list, and want instead a common commitment in all parties' election manifestos to unilaterally declare independence if pro-independence MPs hold an absolute majority in the next Catalan Parliament.

Mas says he will meet with other parties this week and the next one in order to explore if a snap election could effectively be turn into a de facto referendum.

ERC and CUP favor a snap election. But two other pro-sovereignty parties (left ecologist ICV and christian democrat UDC) are skeptical over the "plebiscite election" option. Yet, UDC leaders concede that Madrid's rejection to negotiate -as today has been clear once again- could force them to accept it.

David Forniès(TW @davidfornies)