Catalan election: Dramatic election campaign has voters divided and feeling like part of a movie
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This campaign understandably, hasn't felt like a normal election. (ABC News: Timothy Stevens)
The Catalan regional election has been one of the most bizarre, unpredictable and unthinkable campaigns you could ever witness.
Key points:
- People will go to the polls tomorrow
- The election campaign has been so dramatic, voters say it feels like "a movie"
- The topic of Catalonian independence has divided the region and the vote is expected to be close
Triggered by Spain's national Government, after it sacked the local government in October when it's leaders unilaterally declared independence, the campaign has made Australia's dual-citizenship farce seem like a stroll in the park.
The previous president, Carles Puigdemont, has been campaigning via satellite from Belgium where he is in self-imposed exile.
If he steps back on Spanish soil he faces arrest on charges of rebellion and sedition and a potential 30-year jail term. Yet somehow he believes he can once again take up the presidency.
Oriol Junqueras is running an even more constrained campaign.
The leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia, who was the deputy president in the last Catalan government, is currently locked up in a prison cell in Madrid.
He has been denied bail and is facing similar charges to Mr Puigdemont.
His party could win the most seats and he hopes to be granted bail when parliament is sworn in.
'It seems like a movie'
For voters on both sides of the independence divide, this campaign understandably does not feel like a normal election.
"It seems like a movie," social worker Carol Ruiz said.
The 33-year-old is not in favour of independence, but she's not in favour of how her local politicians have been treated either.
"I want to stay inside Spain. I feel Spanish and I feel Catalan. But I don't agree with how the Spanish Government has handled this," she said.
"It's like, what's happening? I don't understand why local politicians have been put in jail. I don't agree with that."
Carol's best friend, Gemma Pera, is also outraged by the Spanish Government's intervention, but will instead be voting for a pro-independence party.
"We had our own government and they broke it up and jailed our politicians," the 26-year-old waitress said.
"I'm angry about that. They are political prisoners. We have to vote to show the world that we want something."
Both Gemma and Carol believe tomorrow's election is historic, but they were trying to avoid talking about the campaign as they shared a coffee in Barcelona's Placa de Vicenc Martorell on Wednesday.
The topic of Catalonian independence has divided the region, and caused tension among family and friends.
Here's what the polls are saying
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who used section 155 of the constitution for the first time in Spain's democratic history to impose home rule on Catalonia, hopes the election will heal those wounds and reunite the region and the country.
At a rally in Barcelona, Mr Rajoy told supporters: "We will restore democracy, normality and co-existence."
But many Catalans blame Mr Rajoy and his party for sowing the seeds of disunity.
The latest opinion polls suggest the region remains divided and it may not be a clear who will be able to form government when the votes are counted on Thursday night.
According to election-eve predictions made by the El Pais newspaper the anti-independence Citizens Party is leading with around 23 per cent of the vote.
Oriol Junqueras's Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) is sitting on an estimated 22 per cent, but the ERC is set to win more seats.
In third place: the pro-independence party of Carles Puigdemont has about 18 per cent of the vote.
The anti-independence Socialists are nipping at their heels with an estimated 15 per cent.
If these figures are accurate, we may see a situation where neither the anti-independence or the pro-independence parties will have enough seats for a majority.
Instead, one side may need to convince one or more of the neutral parties to help form a coalition.
Will the dream of a Catalan republic come true?
Over the past few months, both the anti and pro-independence parties have upset their supporters.
Voters in favour of staying in Spain, like Carol Ruiz, have been alienated by what they see as heavy-handed tactics employed by Mr Rajoy and his People's Party.
His party is polling woefully in Catalonia with around 5 per cent of the vote.
Meanwhile, many independence supporters are angry with Mr Puigdemont for failing to deliver the republic he promised.
And many are not impressed that he cut and run to Belgium when things got rough.
Tomorrow we will find out which way the voters are leaning.
In 2015, a pro-independence coalition seized power and was able to lay the ground for this year's independence referendum.
If the pro-independence forces fail to win a majority of seats this time around, you would have to think Mr Rajoy's intervention has worked and that the dream of a Catalan republic will be further away.
Topics: government-and-politics, elections, federal-elections, world-politics, spain
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