Spain: Puigdemont's party decides to leave the Catalan independence government

Pro-independence flags, at a meeting of the 'Junts pel Sí' campaign in Barcelona.

REUTERS/Albert Gea

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It's over: the party of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont decided on Friday, October 7 to leave the regional coalition government after a vote by its activists and months of internal tensions, while they are betting on confrontation with Madrid while the independence left wishes to negotiate with Madrid.

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With our correspondent in Barcelona,

The Catalan independence union is no more.

This Friday evening, activists from the right of Junts, the party of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, voted 55% for the abandonment of the coalition government with the left of Esquerra Republicana.

This alliance had governed the region since 2015 and had led the independence camp to the organization of a referendum 5 years ago, almost to the day.

But this fragile union had become a fratricidal war between two ways of approaching the question of independence.

The Junts radicals have therefore decided to relinquish power on October 7, not without harshly criticizing their former ally, President Pere Aragonès, by challenging him to compete with a vote of confidence in Parliament.

In his speech, the Catalan leader adopted a more diplomatic tone, thanking the work of the resigning regional ministers and confirming that he would now govern alone, without a parliamentary majority.

And the task will be difficult: the party has only 33 seats out of 135.

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• Spain

• Catalonia