WHEN Mariano Rajoy pledged that the referendum on independence organised by the Catalan government for October 1st would not take place, it always looked like a hostage to fortune. And so it has proved. As riot police used force to evict activists from polling stations, pictures of elderly citizens bloodied by truncheon blows caused dreadful damage to the image of Spanish democracy. And the vote mostly went ahead regardless.
For Mr Rajoy, Spain’s conservative prime minister, it was the worst of both worlds. It leaves a question-mark over the future of his government, and even of his country. On the back of the vote, Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan president, said the region’s parliament would issue a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) in the coming days, in accordance with a law it rushed through last month. Spanish democracy faces “very grave times”, declared King Felipe in a rare televised address on October 3rd. He was right.
The referendum took place...Continue reading
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