Catalunya’s pro-independence regional government won a confidence vote last week, which it hopes will boost support for its efforts to split from Spain, and will hold a referendum next year. The motion to support the separatist parties in power in the region was won by 72 votes against 63,
The region’s president, Carles Puigdemont, has said that winning the vote would accelerate the government’s attempts to build an independent state. He told parliament that he would try to negotiate the region’s independence vote with Spain, but that the referendum would take place next September with or without the central government’s consent.
A poll published in July showed that more than 47 percent of Catalans support a split from Spain.
