Early morning in Plaça de Sant Jaume, Barcelona, seat of the Catalan regional government (iStock)
The Catalan branch of Spain’s ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) shared first place with the separatist Republican Left (ERC) in regional elections on Sunday.
Pro-independence parties won 74 out of 135 seats, up four. The parties have governed since 2012.
The Republican Left and Socialists would also have a majority with the left-wing Catalonia in Common-Podem.
The far-right Vox entered Catalonia’s parliament for the first time, but the right as a whole lost twenty seats.
Turnout was 54 percent, the lowest since the restoration of democracy.
