Monday, November 10, 2014

Catalonia Votes

From the BBC:
"Catalonia vote: 80% back independence - officials"

An informal vote on independence for Catalonia has shown more than 80% in favour, officials say.
The provisional results followed a day of voting across the autonomous region in north-eastern Spain.
The non-binding vote went ahead after Spain's constitutional court ruled out a formal referendum.
Earlier, Catalan leader Artur Mas hailed the non-binding poll "a great success" that should pave the way for a formal referendum. "We have earned the right to a referendum," he told cheering supporters.  "Once again Catalonia has shown that it wants to rule itself." He added: "I ask the people in the world, I ask the media and I also ask the democratic governments in the world to help the Catalan people decide its political future."  Voters were asked two questions - whether they wanted Catalonia to be a state and whether they wanted that state to be independent. Vice President Joana Ortega said that more than two million people had taken part in the "consultation of citizens" and that with almost all votes counted, 80.72% had answered yes to both questions. Just over 10% voted yes for the first question and no for the second, he said, and about 4.5% voted no to both questions.
The ballot was held in the face of fierce opposition from the Spanish government. Speaking beforehand, Spanish Justice Minister Rafael Catala dismissed the exercise as "fruitless and useless".
"The government considers this to be a day of political propaganda organised by pro-independence forces and devoid of any kind of democratic validity," he said in a statement.  Opinion polls suggest that as many as 80% of Catalans want an official referendum on the issue of Catalonia's status, with about 50% in favour of full independence. More than 40,000 volunteers helped to set up and run the informal exercise.  The Catalan National Assembly pressure group collected signatures at polling stations on a petition to be sent to the UN and the European Commission asking for help to convince Spain to allow an official referendum. Nationalism in Catalonia has been fuelled by economic and cultural grievances. The wealthy region of 7.5 million people contributes more to the Spanish economy than it gets back through central government funds.

^ I have many relatives in Catalonia and know that the vast majority want to be independent. They were discriminated against by Franco and Madrid for decades and then when Franco died the new Spanish Government brushed all his bad deeds "under the rug" rather than admit and address them. The government in Madrid has also done a poor job in how it deals with major issues like unemployment, banking, etc (Spain has received several bailouts from the EU.) The EU was given some say in how the money they gave was used and yet Catalonia (the richest region of Spain) has not been given a real voice in how their money is spent throughout the country. That has made Catalans resent Madrid and why the majority want independence. The UK recognized that they couldn't stop Scotland from voting and so officially sanctioned the vote. Madrid has done just the opposite and forbade Catalonia to hold the vote - not allowing something just makes more people want it more. I don't see this issue going away anytime soon. ^



http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29982960

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