Nationalist success in Catalan poll

Elections in Catalunya to elect a new autonomous government have brought good news for the separatist ERC party (Catalunyan Republican Left), which managed to nearly double its number of seats in the Catalan Parliament and now holds the key to the formation of the new government.

The ERC party has been a good friend of Sinn Féin, attending the Ard Fheis for many years. The pro-independence Catalan party got 23 seats, eleven more than in the previous elections. With this result, the Catalan Parliament has a nationalist majority but also a centre-left wing majority.

The moderate nationalist party CiU won the highest number of seats, with 46, although this was a reduction of ten from the previous election. The Catalan Socialist Party came second, with 42 seats compared to the 52 they held in the parliament before the election.