BARCELONA: With their leaders in exile or jail, Catalan separatists scrambled on Friday (Saturday in Manila) to reap the benefits of defeating Spain’s central government in a divisive regional election. Madrid had called Thursday’s poll after secessionists declared independence on October 27, in Spain’s worst political crisis since democracy was reinstated following dictator Francisco Franco’s death in 1975. What was clear was that the move to call snap polls appeared to backfire against Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Rajoy rejected the call to meet Puigdemont, as he warned the new Catalan government should fully respect the law. Other independence leaders, including Puigdemont’s former deputy Oriol Junqueras, are behind bars pending trial.

Source: Manila Times December 23, 2017 12:56 UTC