Political rivals in Catalonia are wooing voters on the last day of campaigning before Thursday’s (21 December) regional election called by Spain.
The ousted Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, has said Spain must drop its charges against him and other leading separatists if they win the election.
An aggregate of polls published by the daily El Pais newspaper suggests that the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) will come top, winning 33 seats, with one or two seats more than Ciudadanos (Cs), which wants unity with Spain.
Puigdemont’s pro-independence JxCat party is predicted to come third, getting about 27 seats. This would mean no parliamentary majority in favour of independence.
Puigdemont is in self-imposed exile in Belgium and his main separatist rival, ERC leader Oriol Junqueras, is in a Spanish jail.
There was an ill-tempered election debate on Catalan television on Monday night.
Inés Arrimadas of Ciudadanos told separatist politicians “you’ve ruined Catalonia”. She said they ought to “get out of the republican bubble”.
