Catalan Pro-Independence Parties to Lose Majority in Regional Elections - Poll

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Catalonia's pro-independence parties will not win a parliamentary majority in the upcoming regional elections, as they are only able to gain 67 seats out of 135, a poll conducted by the Sociological Research Center (CIS) showed on Monday.

According to the poll published by El Pais newspaper, Junts Per Catalunya may get up to 26 seats, Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) will win nine seats and the Esquerra Republicana–Catalunya Si will get 32 seats.

READ MORE: Media Wars in Catalonia Ensure There's No 'Balanced Field' Ahead of Election

Following the October 1 independence referendum in which over 90 percent of the 2.26 million Catalans voted in favor of the move, Madrid adopted Article 155 of the Constitution, imposing direct rule over the region, dissolving the parliament and calling snap elections on December 21, after the region's government unilaterally declared independence from Spain.

Catalan's ex-President Carles Puigdemont, who subsequently left the country for Belgium in late October, didn't recognize the move, launching an election campaign and suggesting that it was up to the voters to decide in the December regional elections whether the rebellious region should be a part of the EU in the future.

However, imprisoned former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras and three other jailed members of his ERC party accepted Madrid's direct rule over the formerly autonomous region, hoping to be released from custody.