Catalonia election: Campaigning ending in tight race

BARCELONA, Spain – Political parties for and against Catalonia’s independence from Spain made a final push to persuade voters as campaigning for a regional election drew to a close Tuesday.

The contest is being held Thursday in exceptional circumstances. The Spanish government called the election when it seized control of Catalonia, dismissed its government and dissolved the regional parliament following a declaration of independence by separatist lawmakers there Oct. 27.

Several members of the ousted Cabinet, including former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, campaigned from Brussels, where they sought refuge from Spanish justice. Others are in jail in Spain on provisional rebellion charges.

Puigdemont was to close his re-election campaign with a video speech later Tuesday to be relayed at a rally for his Together for Catalonia party in Barcelona.

His former deputy president, Oriol Junqueras of the left-wing republican ERC party, is in jail outside Madrid and has had his campaigning curtailed.

The parties of Puigdemont and Junqueras, along with a small anti-capitalist group, held a slim majority in the last parliament, enabling them to push ahead with the independence drive. It remains to be seen whether they can stick together after Thursday’s election.

Recent polls indicate the vote will see a close race between Junqueras, Puigdemont and Ines Arrimadas of the pro-Spanish unity Ciutadans (Citizens) party.

Arrimadas, addressing more than 2,000 supporters Tuesday night in Barcelona’s working class Nou Barris neighborhood, said she would put an end to the secession efforts.

“On Thursday, we are going to awaken from this nightmare of the independence push,” she said at her final campaign event.

Arrimadas, a 34-year-old lawyer, presented the election as a choice “either to extend this Catalonia that is broken and divided or to begin a new era for all Catalans.”

No group is expected to win a parliamentary majority.

“I expect there to be an impasse Thursday, and we are going to face quite a few weeks of attempts to form a government,” said Andrew Dowling, a specialist in Catalan history at Cardiff University in Wales.

Dowling said the campaign showed the pro-secession bloc still had solid support but that the anti-independence side had come to life and posed a serious challenge.

Spain has said it will return full autonomous powers to Catalonia once a law-abiding government is elected.

Polls consistently show most Catalans want the right to decide their future but are evenly divided over splitting from Spain.