Members of a polling station at the Montserrat Roig school in Terrassa begin the count.Cristóbal Castro
Salvador Illa's PSC has won the elections, but with a technical draw with ERC and with a reinforced majority of the independence movement.
The Socialists have obtained in these elections marked by the pandemic and a low turnout, of just over 53%, 23% of the votes and 33 seats (with a 98% vote count).
The same as the Republicans led by Pere Aragonès and one more than the Junts de Laura Borràs.
But the secessionist bloc that these two parties could form together with CUP secures 74 seats, six more than those obtained four years ago and which are more than those necessary to invest the president of the Generalitat.
Republicans, with 21.3% of the support and 33 seats (the same as in the 2017 appointment), surpass the Junts in votes and one seat.
The formation led by Carles Puigdemont, head of the formation's list, but not a candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, obtains two fewer seats than it did in the last elections.
Vox would debut in the Catalan Chamber as the fourth force and 11 deputies.
The CUP would win 9 seats.
Ciudadanos would suffer a disaster and would go from being the most voted force in 2017 with 36 deputies to only six seats.
The PP would keep three, one less.
In Comú Podem it would repeat results (eight seats) and the PDeCAT would be left out of Parliament in a vote marked by a low turnout, located slightly above 53%.
The high abstention has meant that only the PSC is capable of exceeding the votes of 2017, around 606,000.
ERC, the second most voted force, has lost more than 360,000 supporters.
Thus ERC could return to govern, although the PSC can also try to add Catalunya en Comú and ERC to an eventual majority of the left.
And if the independence coalition ends up imposing itself, it would now be headed by Esquerra Republicana instead of Junts, winner in 2017 within the independence bloc.
The advantage that ERC has offers as a starting point the possibility of leading the Generalitat from its most pragmatic position with regard to independence, after it has defended the need to expand the secessionist base to force the holding of an agreed referendum with the central government.
The president of Junts Laura Borràs has presented a tougher position in the event that the independence movement achieved a percentage of votes higher than 50% in the elections.
Most of the left seem more complicated because, although they could add a majority of seats, during the campaign ERC distanced itself from any agreement with the socialists and has come to sign, together with the rest of the secessionist parties, a document in which it refuses to agree with the socialists.
The high abstention has marked the elections this Sunday.
With data from 6:00 p.m., participation had fallen 22.5 points compared to 2017, although then it was a record due to the political upheaval that Catalonia was experiencing due to the failure of the declaration of independence.
In addition, the pandemic has triggered voting by mail, which may correct participation data slightly upwards.
In total, 5.36 million people residing in Catalonia and another 255,000 who live abroad were called to vote today.
Catalonia is played at the polls to overcome a decade of fracture
The campaign for the Catalan elections ends with the risk of blockade
The ballot box vote drops 22.5 points due to the pandemic and the ballots by mail
The elections this Sunday, the fourth since Artur Mas began the failed independence process in 2010, have been held eight months before the end of the legislature after the partners of the current Government, Junts and Esquerra, were unable to agree on the name of a president to replace Quim Torra, disqualified by the Supreme Court on September 28 for a crime of disobedience.
The elections were called automatically by the Parliament and the Government, together with other parties, tried to postpone them until May with the argument that the coronavirus pandemic did not recommend a movement of 5.3 million potential voters and 100,000 people in the logistical organization of the elections.
The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia rejected the postponement by rejecting the decree of the Government.
Finally, the Generalitat complied with the decision of the courts and accelerated preparations for elections marked by security measures due to the pandemic, generating an extra cost of eight million euros.
The number of polling stations has been increased, protective equipment has had to be purchased to protect the members of the polling stations, and cleaning services have been reinforced.
And voting by mail has been strengthened, through which 284,706 ballots have been articulated, 350% more than in the 2017 elections. This represents slightly less than 5% of the census, which will be included in the count tonight .
The demobilization has marked a campaign very focused on the management of the pandemic together with the need or not to continue pushing for the independence of Catalonia.
The great novelty of this appointment is the PSC candidate, Salvador Illa, who left the Ministry of Health just before the electoral campaign and has tried to take advantage of his public projection to improve the results of the Socialists.
In the independence camp, all the candidates are new too.
Laura Borràs (Junts) is the effective candidate of the party of former president Carles Puigdemont, who symbolically heads the candidacy.
Their option is to keep alive the idea of a unilateral independence of Catalonia, although now they do not count on making it effective in the short term.
Esquerra has presented Pere Aragonès, with a more pragmatic profile, as a candidate, after the disqualification and sentence to 13 years in prison of the party leader Oriol Junqueras for his participation in the independence process.
Despite the internal dysfunctions demonstrated by the coalition government of Junts and ERC, both forces have shown their willingness to maintain it and have given the image of vetoing any alliance with the PSC, by signing a document together with the rest of the independence forces in which they conspire against agreements with the Socialists of Salvador Illa.
That agreement leaves very weak the option of the second door that the results open: a progressive agreement in which PSC, Catalunya en Comú and Esquerra Republicana would add.
The question is whether the CUP will finally be willing to facilitate a new independence government in the Generalitat.
His incorporation to the Executive is on the wing.