Large Support for Independence in Symbolic Catalonia Vote
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Catalonia's nationalist government vowed to step up its secession drive after over two million people voted Sunday in a symbolic independence referendum which Spain's central government dismissed it as "useless".
Catalan government head Artur Mas called the vote, not sanctioned by Madrid, "a total success" after a large majority of those who took part supported independence.
The vote "made it very clear that we want to govern ourselves," he said.
In Barcelona and other cities voters of all ages lined up around the block, some applauding, as polling stations opened after weeks of tense legal wrangling with Spanish authorities.
Voters were asked for their response to two questions. The first was: "Do you want Catalonia to be a state?". If answered affirmatively, the ballot paper posed a second question: "Do you want that state to be independent?".
Partial results showed 80.7 percent of the roughly two million people who took part in the vote voted yes to both questions while just over 10 percent voted yes for the first question and no for the second, Catalan vice president Joana Ortega told a news conference. About 4.5 percent voted no to both questions, AFP reported.
There was no official electoral roll but the regional government said 5.4 million Catalans and resident foreigners aged 16 were eligible to vote in the referendum which was organised by thousands of volunteers.
"People believed that they could decide their future and they turned out en masse," said Xavier Bardolet, 44, as he voted in the town of Sant Pere de Torello about 90 kilometres (50 miles) north of Barcelona.
The poll was held in the face of fierce opposition from the Spanish government, and despite a constitutional court ruling to suspend the exercise.