The election result was almost anticlimactic. The 'yes' votes won. Whether sending ten thousand belligerent cops from the rest of Spain, cutting the local internet and confiscating the ballot boxes helped people move towards the 'yes, we want an independent republic' is a moot point. There is little doubt that sending those ten thousand cops, breaking heads (760 people were admitted to hospital for various wounds at the hand of the Spanish state), yet failing to stop proceedings, is a public relations disaster for President Rajoy. 'Savagery and impotence mixed together' it says here. An interview with the Spanish foreign minister at Sky News says the minister '...defends the use of force by Spanish police...'. It may play well in Ciudad Real - Spaniards against Spaniards (or was it Spaniards against Catalonians?) - but not so well internationally.
The results of the 'illegal election' in Catalonia: 2,262,424 votes counted (an estimated 700,000 votes were confiscated, or the polling stations successfully closed by the police): 90% Sí and 7% No.
What will happen next? The Catalonian president Puigdemont is reported to be planning a unilateral declaration of independence in the coming days. President Rajoy has called for an urgent debate on the issue with other party leaders.
I think Rajoy will be forced out of office soon - either a resignation or following fresh elections.
As for Puigdemont - his fate is equally uncertain...
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