Support for Mr. Rajoy’s Popular Party has always been weak in Catalonia, as it has been in the Basque region, where separatist sentiment is also strong. Before then, the conservative Catalan nationalist party Convergence worked with the Popular Party to push austerity measures through Parliament. It jettisoned its alliance with Mr. Rajoy’s party and joined forces with progressive nationalists and the movement for independence. Tellingly, both Mr. Rajoy’s government and the independence movement refer to their positions as a defense of democracy. In a speech on Sunday night, Mr. Rajoy referred to democracy as the rule of law, and heaped praise on the police and the judicial system.

Source: New York Times October 02, 2017 18:33 UTC