2017 Catalan independence referendum

2017 Catalan independence referendum
1 October 2017

Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?
Results
Choice
Votes %
checkY Yes 2,044,038 92.01%
☒N No 177,547 7.99%
Valid votes 2,221,585 97.17%
Invalid or blank votes 64,632 2.83%
Total votes 2,286,217 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 5,313,564 43.03%
Source: Government of Catalonia[1]

An independence referendum was held on 1 October 2017 in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, passed by the Parliament of Catalonia as the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia and called by the Generalitat de Catalunya.[2][3][4] The referendum, known in the Spanish media by the numeronym 1-O (for "1 October"), was declared unconstitutional[5][6][7] on 7 September 2017 and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain after a request from the Spanish government, who declared it a breach of the Spanish Constitution.[8][9][10] Additionally, in early September the High Court of Justice of Catalonia had issued orders to the police to try to prevent the illegal referendum, including the detention of various persons responsible for its preparation.[11][12][13] Due to alleged irregularities during the voting process, as well as the use of force by the National Police Corps and Civil Guard, international observers invited by the Generalitat declared that the referendum failed to meet the minimum international standards for elections.[14][15][16]

The referendum was approved by the Catalan parliament in a session on 6 September 2017, boycotted by 52 anti-independence parliamentarians,[17] along with the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic of Catalonia the following day 7 September, which stated that independence would be binding with a simple majority, without requiring a minimum turnout.[17][18] After being suspended, the law was finally declared void on 17 October,[19] being also unconstitutional according to the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia which requires a two-thirds majority, 90 seats, in the Catalan parliament for any change to Catalonia's status.[20][21][22]

The referendum question, which voters answered with "Yes" or "No", was "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?". While the "Yes" side won, with 2,044,038 (90.18%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.83%) voting against, the turnout was only 43.03%. The Catalan government estimated that up to 770,000 votes were not cast due to polling stations being closed off during the police crackdown,[1][23][24][25] although the "universal census" system introduced earlier in the day allowed electors to vote at any given polling station.[26][27] Catalan government officials have argued that the turnout would have been higher were it not for Spanish police suppression of the vote.[28][29][30] On the other hand, most voters who did not support Catalan independence did not turn out,[31] as the constitutional political parties asked citizens not to participate in the illegal referendum to avoid "validation".[32][33] Additionally, numerous cases of voters casting their votes several times or with lack of identification were reported, and the counting process and the revision of the census were not performed with quality standards ensuring impartiality.[34][35]

The days leading to the referendum witnessed hasty judicial fights, and the High Court of Justice of Catalonia eventually ordered police forces to impede the use of public premises for the imminent voting.[36] With conflicting directives, the referendum mostly saw inaction of part of the autonomous police force of Catalonia, the Mossos d'Esquadra, who allowed many polling stations to open while the National Police Corps and the Guardia Civil intervened and raided several opened polling stations to prevent voting.[37][38] Early figures of 893 civilians and 111 agents of the National Police and the Guardia Civil injured[38][39][40][41] may have been exaggerated.[42] According to Barcelona's judge investigating those police violence, 218 persons were injured in Barcelona alone.[43][44] According to the official final report by the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) of the Generalitat, 1066 civilians, 11 agents of the National Police and the Guardia Civil, and 1 agent of the regional police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, were injured.[45] The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, urged the Spanish government to investigate all acts of violence that took place to prevent the referendum.[46][47] The police action also received criticism from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which defined it as an "excessive and unnecessary use of force".[48][49] Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena stated Carles Puigdemont ignored the repeated warnings he received about the escalation of violence if the referendum was held.[50][51]

Mossos d'Esquadra were investigated for disobedience, for allegedly not having complied with the orders of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.[52] Members of Mossos d'Esquadra under investigation included Josep Lluís Trapero Álvarez, the Mossos d'Esquadra major, who was investigated for sedition by the Spanish National Court.[53] Mossos d'Esquadra denied those accusations and say they obeyed orders but applied the principle of proportionality, which is required by Spanish law in all police operations.[54]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Results was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Giles, Ciaran; Parra, Aritz (17 October 2017). "Spain: Top court officially rules Catalan referendum illegal". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  3. ^ "El gobierno de Cataluña convocó para el 1 de octubre el referéndum de autodeterminación". Infobae (in Spanish). 6 September 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  4. ^ Jones, Sam (6 September 2017). "Catalonia to hold independence vote despite anger in Madrid". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Why the referendum on Catalan independence is illegal". The Economist. 26 September 2017.
  6. ^ "How to Stage an Illegal Referendum". Bloomberg L.P. 20 September 2017.
  7. ^ Alandete, David (10 October 2017). "Independence in Catalonia – now what?". El País.
  8. ^ "Spain Catalonia: Court blocks independence referendum". BBC News. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Recurso de inconstitucionalidad n.º 4334-2017, contra la Ley del Parlamento de Cataluña 19/2017, de 6 de septiembre, del Referéndum de Autodeterminación" (PDF) (in Spanish). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  10. ^ Duarte, Esteban (11 September 2017). "Catalan Separatists Plot Show of Force in Battle With Madrid". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  11. ^ Carranco, Rebeca; García, Jesús (21 September 2017). "La justicia desmonta la organización del referéndum ilegal de Cataluña". El País (in Spanish).
  12. ^ "Una juez ordena a Google eliminar la aplicación sobre el referéndum catalán". Reuters (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 October 2017.
  13. ^ "Catalonia's Superior Court also orders Catalan Police to close off planned polling stations". El Nacional.
  14. ^ Colomé, Jordi Pérez (3 October 2017). "La misión de observadores concluye que el referéndum no cumple los "estándares internacionales"". El País (in Spanish). La Misión debe concluir que el referéndum, tal y como se hizo, no puede cumplir con los estándares internacionales [The Mission must conclude that the referendum, as it was done, can not meet international standards]
  15. ^ "Did the referendum comply with basic voting regulations?". El País. 3 October 2017.
  16. ^ Gallego-Díaz, Soledad (5 October 2017). "Mediaciones e instituciones". Hoy por hoy (in European Spanish). Cadena SER.
  17. ^ a b "Catalonia to hold independence vote despite anger in Madrid". The Guardian. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017. The Catalan government has not set a threshold for minimum turnout, arguing the vote will be binding regardless of the level of participation.
  18. ^ Jones, Sam (10 September 2017). "Catalans to celebrate their national day with independence protests". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  19. ^ "Spain just declared Catalan referendum law void". The Independent. 17 October 2017. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022.
  20. ^ "Catalonia plans an independence vote whether Spain lets it or not". The Economist.
  21. ^ "Catalan independence referendum". The Daily Star. 10 October 2017.
  22. ^ Ríos, Pere (6 September 2017). "Las diez claves de la ley del referéndum de Cataluña". El País. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
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  27. ^ "El 'sí' obtuvo más votos que personas censadas en 71 municipios". El País (in Spanish). 3 October 2017.
  28. ^ Clarke, Hilary; Soares, Isa; Cotovio, Vasco (2 October 2017). "Catalonia referendum plunges Spain into political crisis". CNN. Retrieved 4 October 2017. Turnout was about 42% of the 5.3 million eligible voters... Turull said more people would have voted had it not been for Spanish police suppression. Up to 770,000 votes were lost as a result of the crackdowns at police stations, the Catalan government estimated.
  29. ^ Pruina, Gerard (2 October 2017). "El 'sí' a la independència s'imposa amb 2.020.144 vots, el 90%". Ara.Cat. Retrieved 4 October 2017. Els encarregats de donar els resultats des del Centre Internacional de Premsa, el vicepresident, Oriol Junqueras; el conseller de la Presidència, Jordi Turull, i el conseller d'Exteriors, Raül Romeva, han remarcat contínuament que, tot i que els 2.248.000 vots no suposen 'per se' el 50% del cens, els càlculs dels experts apunten que sense pressió policial i tancament de col·legis s'hauria pogut arribar al 55% de participació.
  30. ^ "Los Mossos cerraron más colegios el 1-O". La Vanguardia. 6 October 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  31. ^ Erickson, Amanda (30 September 2017). "Catalonia independence vote: What you need to know". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  32. ^ "Iceta pide a los catalanes que no acudan a votar para no 'dar valor' al referéndum". ABC (in European Spanish).
  33. ^ Molpeceres, Diego. "Referéndum en Cataluña – Un referéndum sin campaña por el 'no' a la independencia". Vozpópuli (in Spanish).
  34. ^ Baquero, Camilo S. (2 October 2017). "Un 90% de 'síes' con 2,2 millones de votos y una participación del 42%, según el Govern". El País.
  35. ^ Garea, Fernando (17 September 2017). "El referéndum inviable: sin censo, garantías internacionales ni protección de datos". elconfidencial.com.
  36. ^ "El TSJC ordena impedir el uso de locales públicos para el referéndum del 1-O" (in Spanish). 27 September 2017.
  37. ^ "1-O.La pasividad de los Mossos y las posteriores cargas policiales marcan un día de tensión con votaciones sin garantías" (in Spanish). Eldiario.es. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  38. ^ a b "Policías y guardias realizan cargas ante la pasividad de los Mossos y dejan más de 893 heridos el 1-O". El Mundo (in Spanish). 2 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  39. ^ Giles, Aritz Parra and Ciaran (2 October 2017). "Catalonia urges mediation with Spain in secession dispute". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017.
  40. ^ Serra, Ot (20 April 2018). "El govern espanyol va quadruplicar la xifra d'agents ferits l'1-O". Ara (in Catalan). Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  41. ^ Respuesta D El Gobierno 684/37958 (Report) (in Spanish). Senado. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018. En relación con la pregunta de referencia, se informa que 111 miembros de las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad del Estado fueron contusionados
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  43. ^ Cite error: The named reference LaVanguardia10102017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  44. ^ Cite error: The named reference ElEspañol06102017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  45. ^ "Report on the incidents that took place from the 1st to the 4th of October 2017" (PDF). Catalan Health Service, Generalitat de Catalunya. 20 October 2017.
  46. ^ "UN human rights chief urges probe into violence during referendum in Catalonia". United Nations. 2 October 2017. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  47. ^ "The Latest: UN chief hopes sides will solve Catalan crisis". CNBC. 2 October 2017. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  48. ^ "Spain: Excessive use of force by National Police and Civil Guard in Catalonia". Amnesty International. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  49. ^ "Spain: Police Used Excessive Force in Catalonia". Human Rights Watch. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
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  52. ^ "Siete jueces investigan a los Mossos por desobediencia al no frenar el 1-O". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). 2 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  53. ^ "Spanish judge calls on Catalan police chief to testify in sedition probe". EFE. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  54. ^ Presno Linera, Miguel Ángel (3 October 2018). "La proporcionalidad policial el 1-O". Agenda Pública (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 June 2018.

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