Madrid: A far-left Catalan separatist party has decided not to back a new regional government led by outgoing president Artur Mas, putting the region on course for fresh elections, Spanish media reported Sunday.
Mas's "Together for Yes" alliance, which has led Catalonia's drive to break away from Spain, won 62 of the 135 seats in the Catalan parliament in September elections, but needed the backing of the far-left CUP, which won 10 seats, to form a government ahead of a January 9 deadline.
On November 9, all 72 pro-independence lawmakers in the Catalan parliament voted in favour of a resolution starting a unilateral process which would have seen the region separate from Spain by 2017.
But the CUP, which opposes NATO and EU membership, has consistently refused to back Mas because of his austerity policies of recent years and his party's links to corruption scandals.
In order to be re-elected head, Mas would have needed just two more CUP lawmakers to back him.
If the Catalan parliament does not elect a leader and form a new government by January 9, it must call fresh elections which would be the fourth in the region since 2010.
AFP
