Catalonia’s pro-independence parties could win the most seats in next week’s knife-edge regional elections but fall short of an absolute majority in parliament, according to the final polls before the vote. Five new polls published on Friday put the three separatist lists on course to win 63 to 69 seats in the 135-seat parliament on December 21, with 68 seats needed to control the assembly. Two of the polling firms projected that the separatist parties could retain the absolute majority of the outgoing regional parliament, which was dissolved by Madrid after the Catalan assembly unilaterally declared independence on October 27. Three of the polls had the leftist, separatist ERC party favourite to win the most seats, with the other two polls predicting pro-unity centre-right Ciudadanos will come out on top. ERC — the party of ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont’s former vice-president Oriol Junqueras — was expected to win between 29 and 35 seats.

Source: Pakistan Today December 15, 2017 14:37 UTC