Catalans vote in election to gauge force of separatist movement, degree of reconciliation with Spain
election on Sunday whose outcome will reverberate in Spain's national politics.
The ballot will be a test both for the strength of the separatist movement in the wealthy northeastern part of Spain and for the policies of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Potentially thousands of voters had trouble reaching their polling stations after Catalonia's commuter rail service had to shut down several train lines after what officials said was the robbery of copper cables from a train installation near Barcelona.
Separatists have held the regional government in Barcelona for more than a decade. But polling and a national election in July show that support for secession has shrunk somewhat since former regional president Carles Puigdemont led an illegal — and futile — breakaway bid in 2017.
Puigdemont is a fugitive from Spain's laws since he fled the country days after his failed secession attempt. But that isn't stopping him from running in this election as he campaigns from southern France. He has said that he will return to Spain when the newly elected lawmakers convene to choose a regional president at some point after the election.
By that time, Puigdemont hopes to be cleared of any legal troubles after Spain's parliament gives final approval to a contentious amnesty for him and hundreds of other separatists.
The amnesty forms part of Sanchez's intense push to reduce tensions in Catalonia that also included the pardoning of jailed high-profile separatists. If
