The December 21 election in Catalonia produced some striking results and accentuated the deepening polarisation in the region. In the middle of what the pro-independence camp called a “Spanish occupation”, with the region’s autonomy practically repealed, the Catalan President Carles Puigdemontforced into self-exile in Belgium and some Catalan legislators sent to prison, those who support Catalonia’s independence from Spain still managed to maintain a slim majority in the regional parliament after the snap election.

The unionists in Catalonia, however, did not accept defeat gracefully. The pro-union Citizens Party won the majority of votes across the region, but failed to secure the necessary majority to either govern alone or in a pro-Spain coalition. Also, anti-secessionist parties obtained an even higher percentage of the votes in both the province of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and in the neighbouring province of Tarragona. All this fuelled the unionists’ frustration and provided them with an opportunity to exploit the situation – they decided, it seems, to appeal to a not-so-funny joke in order to argue their case and delegitimise the opposition’s significant electoral victory. 

Full article at Al Jazeera’s website. Date of publication 11/02/2018