Catalans Gear Up for Symbolic Independence Vote Sunday

Artur Mas, the Catalan president, has remained defiant in the face of the exceedingly draconian bans by Madrid on any show of support for secession. The Catalan leader swore to defend his people’s “right to decide” in the matter.

Not only were the Iberian region’s claims for an official referendum shot down, the Madrid government has now banned any symbolic public show of support for the measure as well.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy earlier said: “The law will be enforced. There will be no referendum that calls into question the sovereignty of the Spanish nation. There will be no division of Spanish territory while I am prime minister.”

When it first became clear by the end of September that there would be no official referendum, this firmly placed the large political event in the category of “opinion poll,” rather than the start of a real secession process.

The country’s top constitutional court on November 4 came to another unanimous ruling, effectively cancelling the second legal challenge posed by the Catalans. The government then ordered a ban not only on the non-binding polls, but on any show of support for independence at all – symbolic or otherwise.

On that day a press conference was held, where the regional government’s spokesman Francesc Homs said preparations for the November 9 vote would go ahead, despite the ban, calling the polling a “participative process.”

The term used by Homs underscores the nature of what’s happening: citizens will be able to vote simply by showing up and registering; the vote will not be officially convened – meaning that municipalities can reserve the right not to hold them. Some have compared the process with Catalonia’s ‘march of the millions’.

And according to Reuters, it’s still not clear whether ballot boxes will be housed in official facilities, which may include schools and town halls.