Catalan separatists are on track to win a small majority of seats in the Catalan Parliament next week, three polls in Spanish newspapers showed on Sunday, possibly paving the way for a declaration of independence.
Catalan President Artur Mas has called the September 27 election a proxy vote on the region’s separation from the rest of Spain.
The three separate polls for El Pais, La Vanguardia and ABC newspapers show the main pro-independence movement Junts pel Si winning between 63 and 67 seats, or around 41% of the vote, just shy of a absolute parliamentary majority.
Mas has said that a separatist majority of at least 68 seats in the 135-member Catalan parliament is the minimum needed to launch a “road map” to secession within 18 months.
All the polls gave a wider margin to the Junts pel Si camp than an official opinion poll published September 10, which saw the pro-independence group taking 60-61 seats.
A Feedback poll for La Vanguardia gave the group 63-65 seats, while a Metroscopia survey in El Pais saw them winning 66-67 seats and the GAD3 research in ABC predicted 65-67 seats.
Failure to win an absolute majority in the election would be serious blow for the separatist cause, which has faced strong opposition from Madrid, which flatly denies Catalonia the right to secession, and from banks and business leaders.
