| Posted on the off-chance that Europe still matters. |
With nearly all of Saturday’s ballots counted, 73.9 percent of voters backed the new statute, while 20.8 percent voted “no”, with voter turnout at about 49 percent, official results released by the regional government showed.
The referendum asked the wealthy northeast region, which includes the city of Barcelona, to decide on a text giving it greater control over raising taxes and judicial affairs. The autonomy text also promotes a wider usage of the Catalan language and gives the region increased say on foreign affairs and control over non-strategic airports and ports.
Conservative opponents of increased autonomy for Catalonia fear it will lead to a violent breakup of Spain. They seized on the 49 percent turnout figure to point out that more than half of the regionÂ’s 5.2 million voters had therefore not voted for more autonomy.
But Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero hailed the “large support” shown by voters for the text. Catalonians have “spoken clearly” and “in a very large majority” in favour of greater autonomy, he said late Sunday. The autonomy charter would bring “greater recognition of the identity” of the region, he added.
The referendum was seen as a crucial test for Zapatero as he seeks to rally support for peace talks with separatists demanding self-rule for the Basque region of Spain.