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The 2015 Catalan regional election was held on Sunday, 27 September 2015, electing the 11th
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
of the
autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...
of
Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This was the third regional Catalan election in only five years, after the
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
and
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
elections and the first one in over 37 years in which
Democratic Convergence of Catalonia The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia ( ca, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya; , CDC), frequently shortened as Convergence ( ca, Convergència; ) was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain), currently still exist ...
(CDC) and
Democratic Union of Catalonia The Democratic Union of Catalonia ( ca, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya; , UDC), frequently shortened as Union ( ca, Unió; ), was a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party in the Catalonia region of Spain existing between 1931 and 2017 ...
(UDC) ran separately, after the dissolution of
Convergence and Union Convergence and Union ( ca, Convergència i Unió, CiU; ) was a Catalan nationalist electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. It was a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller coun ...
(CiU) in June 2015 over disagreements on the coalition's separatist turn. The plan to hold a
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...
in 2015 was announced on 14 January by
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Artur Mas Artur Mas i Gavarró (; born 31 January 1956) is a Spanish politician from Catalonia. He was president of the Government of Catalonia from 2010 to 2015 and acting president from September 2015 to 12 January 2016. Mas is a long time member of D ...
. After the non-binding 2014 independence referendum, Mas declared that the election was to be turned into an alternative vote on independence, with pro-independence parties including the independence goal in their election manifestos. As part of the process, CDC, along with
Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a Catalan independence movement, pro-Catalan independence, social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Catalonia, p ...
(ERC),
Democrats of Catalonia Democrats of Catalonia ( ca, Demòcrates de Catalunya, DC) is a Christian-democratic, pro-Catalan independence political party in Catalonia founded in July 2015 from a split in Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC). Its members included the then ...
(DC) and
Left Movement Left Movement ( ca, Moviment d'Esquerres, MES) is a social-democratic, pro-independence political party in Catalonia. The party was founded in November 2014 from the merger of New Catalan Left (NECat) and Catalonia Movement (Moviment Catalunya), ...
(MES) would run together under the
Junts pel Sí Junts pel Sí (; en, "Together for Yes", sometimes translated as "Together for the Yes"; JxSí) was a Catalan electoral, political and parliamentary alliance focused on achieving the independence of Catalonia from Spain. Established ahead of t ...
(JxSí) platform, with support from members of the pro-independence
Catalan National Assembly The Assemblea Nacional Catalana ("Catalan National Assembly"; ANC by its Catalan acronym) is an organization that seeks the political independence of Catalonia from Spain. It also promotes the independence of other Catalan-speaking regions, which ...
(ANC), Ã’mnium and the Municipalities' Association for Independence (AMI). The alliance, however, failed to achieve its self-stated goal to attain an absolute majority on its own. Newly formed Podemos (
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
for "We can"),
Initiative for Catalonia Greens Initiative for Catalonia Greens ( ca, Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds, ICV; ) was an eco-socialist political party in Catalonia. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialis ...
(ICV),
United and Alternative Left United and Alternative Left ( ca, Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, EUiA) is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. EUiA has 4000 members, and it is the Catalan correspondent of the Spain-wide United Left (IU). It was formed in 1998 as a schism ...
(EUiA) and
Equo Greens Equo (and formerly Q or eQuo) is a Spanish political party founded on 4 June 2011, when 35 Spanish green parties agreed to merge into Equo. It began as a foundation on 24 September 2010 with the goal of becoming "the seed and source of deb ...
stood together under the
Catalunya Sí que es Pot Catalunya Sí que es Pot ( en, "Catalonia Yes We Can", also translated as "Catalonia It Is Possible" or "Yes, Catalonia Can") was a left-wing coalition composed of Podemos, Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV) and United and Alternative Left ...
(
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
for "Catalonia yes we can") label, a second novel electoral grouping formed for this election. The alliance was modeled after the
Barcelona en Comú Barcelona en Comú (Catalan for "Barcelona in Common") is a citizen platform launched in June 2014 that is currently governing in minority in the City of Barcelona. Its policy agenda includes defending social justice and community rights, promotin ...
platform that won the 2015 Barcelona election, but it failed to garner the decisive support of the city's popular mayor
Ada Colau Ada Colau Ballano (; ; born 3 March 1974) is a Spanish activist and politician who is the current Mayor of Barcelona. On 13 June 2015 she was elected Mayor of Barcelona, the first woman to hold the office, as part of the citizen municipalist pla ...
and saw a poor performance.
Citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
(C's) benefited from its anti-independence stance and climbed to second place ahead of a declining
Socialists' Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, PSC–PSOE official acronym) is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain, resulting from the merger of three parties: the Socialist Party of Catalonia ...
(PSC), which scored a new historical low for the third election in a row. The People's Party (PP) suffered from its national counterpart decline and scored its worst result since
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
, whereas the left-wing
Popular Unity Candidacy The Popular Unity Candidacy ( ca, Candidatura d'Unitat Popular, , CUP) is a left-wing to far-left pro-Catalan independence political party active primarily in Catalonia, where it has political representation, but also in other autonomous communiti ...
(CUP) saw a strong performance which allowed it to hold the key to government formation with JxSí.


Overview


Electoral system

The
Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia ( ca, Parlament de Catalunya, ; es, Parlamento de Cataluña; oc, Parlament de Catalonha) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 mem ...
was the
devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
,
unicameral legislature Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...
of the
autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...
of
Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the
Spanish Constitution The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese language, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the Democracy, democratic law that is supreme l ...
and the
Catalan Statute of Autonomy The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 ( ca, Estatut d’Autonomia de Catalunya) provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Cataloni ...
, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president. As a result of no regional electoral law having been approved since the re-establishment of Catalan autonomy, the electoral procedure came regulated under Transitory Provision Fourth of the 1979 Statute, supplemented by the provisions within the Organic Law of General Electoral Regime. Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of
universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
, which comprised all nationals over 18 years of age, registered in Catalonia and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Catalans abroad were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote ( es, Voto rogado). The 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia were elected using the
D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...
and a
closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
, with an
electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...
of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
of
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
,
Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...
,
Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...
and
Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...
, with each being allocated a fixed number of seats. The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the
district magnitude An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
.


Election date

The term of the Parliament of Catalonia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The regional president was required to call an election fifteen days prior to the date of expiry of parliament, with election day taking place within from forty to sixty days after the call. The previous election was held on 25 November 2012, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 25 November 2016. The election was required to be called no later than 10 November 2016, with it taking place up to the sixtieth day from the call, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Monday, 9 January 2017. The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia and call a
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...
, provided that no
motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since a previous one under this procedure. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.


Background


Secessionist process

After the 2012 regional election resulted in
Convergence and Union Convergence and Union ( ca, Convergència i Unió, CiU; ) was a Catalan nationalist electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. It was a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller coun ...
(CiU) unexpectedly losing seats, President Mas was placed in a difficult political position, as he fell 18 seats short of the absolute majority. He was forced to sign an agreement with
Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a Catalan independence movement, pro-Catalan independence, social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Catalonia, p ...
(ERC), in which the latter pledged to
support Support may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Supporting character Business and finance * Support (technical analysis) * Child support * Customer support * Income Support Construction * Support (structure), or lateral support, a ...
the government, albeit without entering a formal coalition, in return for a faster process to obtain the independence of Catalonia. On 23 January 2013, the Parliament of Catalonia adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty and of the Right to Decide of the Catalan People, which stated that ''"The people of Catalonia have—by reason of democratic legitimacy—the character of a sovereign political and legal entity."'' This declaration was provisionally suspended by the
Constitutional Court of Spain The Constitutional Court ( es, Tribunal Constitucional) is the supreme interpreter of the Spanish Constitution, with the power to determine the constitutionality of acts and statutes made by any public body, central, regional, or local in Spa ...
on 8 May 2013, and on 25 March 2014 the same court declared that it was void and unconstitutional due to the fact that the
Spanish Constitution of 1978 The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the democratic law that is supreme in the Kingdom of Spain. It was e ...
makes the Spanish people as a whole the only subject of sovereignty. At the same time, opinion polls began to show ERC topping the voters' preferences for the first time since the 1932 Catalan election, with the CiU vote declining as a result of the 2012 election backlash, but also because of Mas' management of the economic crisis and the involvement of several CiU leading figures in several corruption scandals. Among those involved was party founder
Jordi Pujol Jordi Pujol Soley (, born 9 June 1930) is a Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003. Early life Pujol was ...
, charged in a
tax fraud Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...
scandal related to an undeclared inheritance in Andorra, accompanied by allegations of
bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
,
embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...
, breach of trust,
influence peddling Influence peddling is the practice of using one's influence in government or connections with authorities to obtain favours or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. It is also called traffic of influence or trading i ...
, forgery of documents and
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
crimes allegedly committed during his time as president of Catalonia. On 12 December 2013, the
Government of Catalonia The Executive Council of Catalonia ( ca, Consell Executiu) or the Executive Government of Catalonia (Catalan: ) is the Executive (government), executive branch of the Generalitat of Catalonia. It is responsible for the political action, regul ...
announced that a
non-binding referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
on the independence issue would be held on 9 November 2014, for the purpose of giving independence leaders a political mandate to negotiate with the
Government of Spain gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , da ...
.
Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a vote of no confidence ousted his government. On 5 June 2018, he announced his resignation as People's Party lead ...
's government stated shortly after its intention to block such a referendum, which it considered unconstitutional and not within the competences of the
Autonomous Community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...
. In spite of this, a not legally sanctioned referendum was held as scheduled, with over 80% voting for independence, albeit on a low turnout of around 40%. Independence parties considered the result a success. Artur Mas explained in a public act on 25 November his plan to reach independence, proposing calling an extraordinary regional election—turned into an alternative vote on independence—at some point during 2015, on the condition that ERC agreed to join a common list with his party to stand together at the polls. ERC leader
Oriol Junqueras Oriol Junqueras i Vies (; born 11 April 1969) is a Catalan politician and historian from Spain. A former mayor of the municipality of Sant Vicenç dels Horts in Catalonia, Junqueras served as Vice President of Catalonia from January 2016 to Oct ...
agreed with most of the plan but initially refused such a joint list, threatening to break its government pact with CiU in order to force an election in early 2015. After weeks of calibrated brinkmanship from both sides, with CDC pushing for a joint candidature to cover for its forecasted loss of support and ERC refusing to run with Artur Mas as presidential candidate, both parties finally reached an agreement, and on 14 January 2015, Mas announced that a snap regional election would be held on 27 September that same year, with the intention to turn in into the true plebiscite on independence. Aside from the pact to hold an extraordinary election, the agreement also included to complete state structures as a basic element to culminate the process of "national transition" as well as negotiation of budgets. Mas and Junqueras also apologized for the rarefied political climate between the pro-independence parties in the negotiations that had taken place during the weeks prior to the announcement. The Spanish government, in response to the election announcement eight months ahead of the scheduled date, accused Mas of having "no interest in attending the Catalan people's problems, nor it has any capacity to solve them". The People's Party (PP),
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
(PSOE) and
Union, Progress and Democracy Union, Progress and Democracy ( es, link=no, Unión, Progreso y Democracia , UPyD ) was a Spanish political party founded in September 2007 and dissolved in December 2020. It was a social-liberal party that rejected any form of nationalism, espec ...
(UPyD) also criticized the announcement.


CiU breakup

Tension within both parties forming the CiU federation had reached an all-time high in June 2015 due to differences between the positions the
Democratic Union of Catalonia The Democratic Union of Catalonia ( ca, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya; , UDC), frequently shortened as Union ( ca, Unió; ), was a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party in the Catalonia region of Spain existing between 1931 and 2017 ...
(UDC) leadership and
Democratic Convergence of Catalonia The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia ( ca, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya; , CDC), frequently shortened as Convergence ( ca, Convergència; ) was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain), currently still exist ...
(CDC) leader Artur Mas took over the sovereignty process. CDC was in favour of outright independence even if it meant breaking the established Spanish legality, while UDC was against doing it without a successful negotiation with the Spanish Government. As a result, a vote was held on 14 June 2015 between UDC members, asking whether the party should commit itself to continue with the process but establishing several conditions—including not violating the legality in force through unilateral independence declarations—or starting the constituent processes at the margin of legal norms. The first option, supported by UDC leaders and contrary to the signed agreements between CDC, ERC and sovereignty entities, was approved by UDC members with a narrow 50.9% to 46.1% choosing to stand at the side of CDC. After this, CDC issued an ultimatum to UDC for the latter to decide within "two or three days" whether it committed itself to the independence plan. On 17 June, after a meeting of the UDC leadership, it was announced that the party was withdrawing all three of its members from the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia, although they agreed to maintain parliamentary stability until the end of the legislature. That same day at night, the CDC national executive committee met and in a press conference the next day confirmed that UDC and CDC would not run together in the 2015 regional election, and that the political project of the CiU federation was over, signalling the end of 37 years of cooperation between both parties as Convergence and Union, a coalition which had dominated Catalan politics since the 1980s.


Run up to election

On 3 August 2015, Catalan president Artur Mas signed the election decree and highlighted the extraordinariness of the proposal's background, which nonetheless did not mention the word
plebiscite A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
. The President justified the extraordinary meaning of the election after having unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a legal and agreed-to referendum with the Government of Spain. Mas, however, did not mention how much support did he considered necessary for proceeding with the independence process. Only pro-independence parties recognized the plebiscitary character of the election, with other parties arguing that—acknowledging the election's importance—it still was an election to the Parliament of Catalonia as many others had been held in the past. The PP, PSC and C's, however, hinted on the possibility of a post-election pact to curb the independence process. The Spanish Government said it would keep a close watch closely the legality of the whole election process while demanding neutrality from Mas. Mariano Rajoy stated: "There won't be a plebiscitary election, as there wasn't a referendum", in relation to the 9 November 2014 vote. Several parties and media questioned the legality of holding the Free Way demonstration on 11 September, as it coincided with the start date of the election campaign.


Parliamentary composition

The Parliament of Catalonia was officially dissolved on 4 August 2015, after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official Journal of the Government of Catalonia. The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.


Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for
parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...
and
federations A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...
registered in the
interior ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
,
coalitions A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...
and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates. Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:
Democratic Convergence of Catalonia The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia ( ca, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya; , CDC), frequently shortened as Convergence ( ca, Convergència; ) was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain), currently still exist ...
(CDC),
Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a Catalan independence movement, pro-Catalan independence, social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Catalonia, p ...
(ERC),
Democrats of Catalonia Democrats of Catalonia ( ca, Demòcrates de Catalunya, DC) is a Christian-democratic, pro-Catalan independence political party in Catalonia founded in July 2015 from a split in Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC). Its members included the then ...
(DC) and
Left Movement Left Movement ( ca, Moviment d'Esquerres, MES) is a social-democratic, pro-independence political party in Catalonia. The party was founded in November 2014 from the merger of New Catalan Left (NECat) and Catalonia Movement (Moviment Catalunya), ...
(MES) agreed by mid-July 2015 to run together under the
Junts pel Sí Junts pel Sí (; en, "Together for Yes", sometimes translated as "Together for the Yes"; JxSí) was a Catalan electoral, political and parliamentary alliance focused on achieving the independence of Catalonia from Spain. Established ahead of t ...
( en, Together for Yes) joint separatist list, with support from the pro-independence
Catalan National Assembly The Assemblea Nacional Catalana ("Catalan National Assembly"; ANC by its Catalan acronym) is an organization that seeks the political independence of Catalonia from Spain. It also promotes the independence of other Catalan-speaking regions, which ...
(ANC), Ã’mnium and the also separatist Municipalities' Association for Independence (AMI). Artur Mas was named as the agreed presidential candidate, even though, as a result of balance of power negotiations between ERC and CDC, he was placed 4th in the electoral ticket. Instead, the list was to be headed by three
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
figures:
Raül Romeva Raül Romeva i Rueda (born 12 March 1971) is a politician from Spain and a former Member of the European Parliament with the , part of the European Greens. He sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Committee on Wome ...
, former MEP for ICV who had left the party for not supporting independence;
Carme Forcadell Maria Carme Forcadell i Lluís (born 29 May 1955) is a Spanish politician from Catalonia. She is the former President of the Parliament of Catalonia, as well as a Catalan high school teacher, known for her Catalan independence activism. She was ...
, former ANC president and
Muriel Casals Muriel Casals i Couturier (6 April 1945 – 14 February 2016) was a Catalan economist with both Spanish and French nationality. Biography She was born in Avignon, France. Couturier was a professor in the Department of Economics and Historical Eco ...
, Ã’mnium chairwoman. Oriol Junqueras would follow in 5th place. The coalition was thus scheduled to comprise the ruling centre-right CDC; its supporting centre-left partner in parliament, ERC; DC and MES, pro-independence splits from UDC and PSC, respectively; and members from separatist sectors of the civil society. The
Popular Unity Candidacy The Popular Unity Candidacy ( ca, Candidatura d'Unitat Popular, , CUP) is a left-wing to far-left pro-Catalan independence political party active primarily in Catalonia, where it has political representation, but also in other autonomous communiti ...
(CUP), which had also participated in the negotiations to form the unitary list, eventually refused on the grounds that "it was formed by politicians"—in reference to CDC and ERC's strong presence in the coalition's lists—and decided to run separately. After the success of
Ada Colau Ada Colau Ballano (; ; born 3 March 1974) is a Spanish activist and politician who is the current Mayor of Barcelona. On 13 June 2015 she was elected Mayor of Barcelona, the first woman to hold the office, as part of the citizen municipalist pla ...
's
Barcelona en Comú Barcelona en Comú (Catalan for "Barcelona in Common") is a citizen platform launched in June 2014 that is currently governing in minority in the City of Barcelona. Its policy agenda includes defending social justice and community rights, promotin ...
platform in the 2015 Barcelona municipal election, its member parties Podemos,
Initiative for Catalonia Greens Initiative for Catalonia Greens ( ca, Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds, ICV; ) was an eco-socialist political party in Catalonia. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialis ...
(ICV) and
United and Alternative Left United and Alternative Left ( ca, Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, EUiA) is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. EUiA has 4000 members, and it is the Catalan correspondent of the Spain-wide United Left (IU). It was formed in 1998 as a schism ...
(EUiA) entered talks for coalescing into a similar, regional-wide coalition for the September election to run as an alternative to Mas' independence plan. By 15 July 2015, negotiations between the parties were already close to success, and it was agreed that they would stand together in the
Catalunya Sí que es Pot Catalunya Sí que es Pot ( en, "Catalonia Yes We Can", also translated as "Catalonia It Is Possible" or "Yes, Catalonia Can") was a left-wing coalition composed of Podemos, Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV) and United and Alternative Left ...
electoral platform ( en, Catalonia Yes We Can). On 23 July,
Lluís Rabell Josep Lluís Franco Rabell (born 17 February 1954) is a Spanish activist and politician. He was candidate in the 2015 Catalan election for the Catalonia Yes We Can Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese, Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; e ...
was presented as the platform's candidate for the regional premiership, while
ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
party
Equo Greens Equo (and formerly Q or eQuo) is a Spanish political party founded on 4 June 2011, when 35 Spanish green parties agreed to merge into Equo. It began as a foundation on 24 September 2010 with the goal of becoming "the seed and source of deb ...
announced its intention to join the coalition on 29 July.


Campaign


Party slogans


Party stances


Election debates


Opinion polls

The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font; 68 seats were required for an
absolute majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...
in the
Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia ( ca, Parlament de Catalunya, ; es, Parlamento de Cataluña; oc, Parlament de Catalonha) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 mem ...
. ;


Results


Overall


Distribution by constituency


Aftermath


Government formation

Following the failure to choose a leader in January 2016 in which 1,515 CUP members voted for Mas and the same number voted against him, the assembly was due to be dissolved on 10 January and a new election called in March. Rajoy supported the new election on the grounds that it could "quash" calls for independence. A last minute deal was struck between
Junts pel Sí Junts pel Sí (; en, "Together for Yes", sometimes translated as "Together for the Yes"; JxSí) was a Catalan electoral, political and parliamentary alliance focused on achieving the independence of Catalonia from Spain. Established ahead of t ...
and
Popular Unity Candidacy The Popular Unity Candidacy ( ca, Candidatura d'Unitat Popular, , CUP) is a left-wing to far-left pro-Catalan independence political party active primarily in Catalonia, where it has political representation, but also in other autonomous communiti ...
to ensure a separatist government, although without Mas as president. As a result,
Carles Puigdemont Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó (; born 29 December 1962) is a Catalan politician and journalist from Spain. Since 2019 he has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). A former mayor of Girona, Puigdemont served as President of Catalo ...
assumed office on 12 January 2016 as Catalan president after his investiture was approved by the Parliament on 10 January.


2016 motion of confidence


Notes


References

;Opinion poll sources ;Other {{Regional elections in Spain in the 2010s
Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
Regional elections in Catalonia 2015 in Catalonia September 2015 events in Spain