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10/04/2017

Topic Reading-Vol.2002-10/4/2017

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Catalonia referendum result plunges Spain into political crisis
What are the roles of the national government?
What rights do the local government have?
A historic referendum took place in Barcelona on October 1 whether to go independent from Spain or not. Such referendum is regarded unconstitutional by the national government. They even had national police forces assault polling stations and injured several hundreds of voters. Though they couldn’t stop the referendum, the violent move lowered the turnout down to just 42% of the eligible voters for elections.
This crack down seemed to have elevated the number of voters who said yes for independence to over 90%, much higher than pre-referendum estimates. If there had been no police suppression to the polling stations, the turnout most likely would have been much higher. But what about the result? The crackdown might have simply hardened the spirit of Catalans and united the supporters for independence.
What will the Catalan government do next and how the national government, EU and UN will react?
Enjoy reading and thinking if any local government should have right to have such referendum for independence, and if such referendum should be respected.

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