Catalan separatists top new voting polls

Pro-independence parties vowing to break Catalonia away from Spain if they win a regional election are set to secure a majority of seats in the vote, polls indicated Monday.

Two polls of voting intentions showed pro-independence candidates could win an absolute majority of seats in the regional parliament in Sunday's ballots, even though they may get less than half the votes overall.

The biggest of these groups, called the "Together For Yes" alliance, has said that would be enough to justify it in pushing ahead with a plan to declare independence within 18 months.

A poll by Sigma Dos published in El Mundo newspaper showed Together For Yes and the left-wing pro-independence party CUP gaining up to 75 of the assembly's 135 seats between them, with 47.8 percent of the vote.

Another survey by pollster Myword for radio station Cadena Ser gave those two separatist blocs up to 77 seats altogether with a combined 48.2 percent of the vote.

Such results would allow the two separatist blocs to team up in the regional parliament to block rival parties opposed to independence for the rich northeastern region.

The polls also indicated that new political forces in Spain would score strongly in the vote, which comes ahead of Spain's general election in December.

The rising centre-right party Ciudadanos came in second place overall in both polls, with a group allied to the left-wing Podemos party in third.

The independence drive has intensified over the recent years of economic crisis. Catalans complain about how much of their tax money is redistributed to the rest of Spain.
Source: AFP