First Catalan poll gives slight lead to anti-independence parties

Sunday 29 October 2017 15:47

REUTERS

Tens of thousands of unionist supporters gathered on Sunday in the regional capital Barcelona, waving Spanish national flags and singing “Viva España” .(REUTERS)

Political parties opposing a split by Catalonia from Spain had a small lead in an opinion poll published on Sunday, the first since Madrid called a regional election to try to resolve the crisis over Catalan demands for independence.

The poll of 1,000 people by Sigma Dos for newspaper El Mundo, which opposes independence for the wealthy northern region, showed anti-independence parties winning 43.4% support and pro-independence parties 42.5%.

Catalans will vote for a new regional parliament on December 21. Spain’s central government called the election on Friday, when it also sacked the regional president Carles Puigdemont and dismissed his government.

It had said it would return the autonomous region to direct control after the Catalan parliament passed a unilateral declaration of independence on Friday in a vote that was boycotted by three national parties.

The Catalan government - which is still claiming to hold power - says it was given a mandate to secede from Spain in an unofficial referendum held on October 1.

The ballot was declared illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Court and has been largely discredited because turnout was only an

unverified 43% as most opponents of independence stayed at home.

The issue of independence has stoked political passions across the region

Sunday’s opinion poll was taken from Monday to Thursday, just as the central government was preparing to take control of Catalonia.

With weeks still to go before the election, Sunday’s poll showed the hardline independence party CUP, kingmaker for the pro-secessionists in the dismissed 135-seat parliament, would win seven seats, down from a current 10.

The CUP has said it would not take part in any election organized by Madrid. The pro-independence coalition Junts pel Si, which previously held 62 seats, was split into parties PDeCat and ERC for the poll as they are unlikely to run on a single platform. The two parties would win between 54 and 58 seats between them, the survey showed.

Tens of thousands of unionist supporters gathered on Sunday in the regional capital Barcelona, waving Spanish national flags and singing “Viva España” in a show of strength by Catalans who oppose any separation from the rest of Spain.

The issue of independence has stoked political passions across the region and prompted thousands of organized and impromptu protests since the Catalan government passed its own roadmap to secession at the beginning of September.

R. (n.d.). First Catalan poll gives slight lead to anti-independence parties. Retrieved October 31, 2017, from http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/89af22004326af51b7eaf7a6f567fb66/First-Catalan-poll-gives-slight-lead-to-anti-independence-parties-20172910

The audience: the audience that will be reading this article may be the citizens of Spain as well as the citizens from Catalonia since it is talking about a problem that involves both of their nations. The article can be directed also to anyone who is interested in this particular topic which is the independence or non independence of Catalonia.

Author’s point of view:  In this article, The author's point of view is impartial because the author is just informing about the issue and it is not taking sides in the Catalonia and its anti-independence parties problem. He is just using percentages and exact number to explain to detail this issue.

The publisher’s point of view: The publisher of this article is a news webpage called SABC news and they inform all kinds of news around the world. In this article what they are trying to do is inform about the progress of this topic with important facts which makes it a good article.

The article is directed or targeted to: Mainly all the citizens of Spain and Catalonia, but it is also relevant for all the people around the world especially the Europeans because Catalonia will maybe become an independent country and it needs recognition from other countries as well.

The Objective: The objective of this article is to inform the audience that there are not just pro independence but also anti-independence parties. And is creating huge disagreement beneath the country.

Opinion: We think that this situation is difficult for the country and the Spanish people, because the country is dividing, in our opinion, no one will ever It has not point because Catalonia is acting out of pride and is not thinking about decisions in the long run. They have been waiting for them to join the European Union as well, but for that they need the vote Spain, whom they will reject. Germany already said that they do not accept Catalonia as a country, and as Germany is the one of the European countries with more power , the other countries will consider them as for. So it's going to be chaotic. Apart from Catalonia there are people who do not want to separate, so the country will not work. We know that Catalonia wants to be an independent country and if it is what they want, they should do so, but it will bring many problems.