DHAKA: A coalition of separatists who promised independence for the Spanish region of Catalonia has won the regional parliamentary elections.

With 99 percent of Sunday’s vote counted, the ‘Together for Yes’ group of secessionists had 62 seats in the 135-member parliament.

If they join forces with the left-wing pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy party, which won 10 seats, they will have the 68 seats needed to try to push forward their plan to make Catalonia independent from Spain by 2017.

But CUP had insisted that it would only join an independence bid if secessionist parties won more than 50 percent of the popular vote. They won only 48 percent because of a quirk in Spanish election law that gives a higher proportion of legislative seats to rural areas with fewer voters.

Still, Catalonia leader Artur Mas claimed victory as a jubilant crowd interrupted him with cheers and chants of ‘Independence!’ in Catalan, which is spoken side by side with Spanish in the well-off and industrialized region bordering France.

As democrats we were prepared to accept the defeat. Now, we demand that they accept the victory for Catalonia and the victory of the ‘yes’, he said.

BDST: 1230 HRS, SEPT 28, 2015
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