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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