Catalonia takes stock after vote
Catalonia takes stock after vote
By Renwick McLean. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: June 19, 2006
MADRID: The decision Sunday by residents of Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia to loosen ties with Madrid has been portrayed by supporters as a historic shift to a new system of federal government that responds more directly to the will of its various peoples.
But the low voter turnout has drawn accusations from critics that the vote was far more momentous for politicians than for ordinary citizens.
About 50 percent of the eligible voters stayed away from the polls, according to figures from the regional government. That was nearly 10 percent more than had been expected.
"We were told that it was necessary to do all this, to get into this tremendous mess because there was a clamor from Catalan society calling for a new statute" governing the region's relationship with Madrid, Josep Piqué, president of the Catalan branch of the center-right Popular Party, said Monday at a news conference.
"Well, we have seen that more than half of Catalan society did not even bother to vote," he said.
A poll released in May by the Center for Sociological Investigations, a government-funded polling organization in Madrid, found that about 50 percent of Catalans said the result of the referendum Sunday was of little or no concern to them.
"This is not a daily concern of citizens," Piqué said. "What they are concerned about is the lack of safety on the streets. They are concerned about immigration. They are concerned about the price of housing, the quality of education, the things that should occupy the attention of those of us who have political responsibilities."
But the motives underlying low voter turnouts are notoriously difficult to pin down, political scientists say.
Ferran Requejo, a professor of political science at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, said that the low turnout could reflect a disconnect between the public and their politicians, as Piqué contends.
"But you can also make the opposite argument," Requejo said in a telephone interview.
"It could be that people abstained because they knew it would be approved and they thought that was fine, so they saw no need to vote," he added.
Spain's Socialist Party, which invested significant political capital to campaign for a yes vote Sunday, accused critics of focusing on turnout in an effort to undermine the legitimacy of a vote that the party said clearly reflected the will of the Catalan people.
"I would like to ask members and voters of the Popular Party to correct their anti-constitutional course," José Blanco, one of the Socialist Party's most visible faces, said Monday at a news conference.
It is time, he said, "to accept the results expressed by the citizens of Catalonia at the polls."
The plan, which was approved Sunday by 74 percent of those casting votes, grants the region broad new powers of self-government on issues such as education, immigration policy and judicial affairs.
It also allows the region to keep more of its tax money, acknowledges that it considers itself a nation and states that it is the duty of all residents to learn the Catalan language.
The plan, known as the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, was energetically supported by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who said it would settle for a generation the perpetually thorny question of how to keep Catalonia content within Spain while dealing with its demands for more powers of self-government.
But critics of the plan have charged that it will only encourage the Catalans to make bolder demands.
In his comments Monday, Piqué of the Popular Party noted that the most influential political group in Catalonia, the Convergència i Unió, had made clear that it saw the plan as a first step toward even greater autonomy.
Another Catalan party, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, had rejected the plan, saying it was too moderate.
Mariano Rajoy, president of the Popular Party, said that the statute not only failed to satisfy the Catalans but also would encourage other regions to present similar proposals.
Spain is moving toward a new model of government, he said Monday, in which "we are naturally going to have a state that is weaker and weaker, with less and less authority."
Zapatero and his allies scoff at such comments, saying they are intended to scare the public into turning against his Socialist Party.
By Renwick McLean. Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: June 19, 2006
MADRID: The decision Sunday by residents of Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia to loosen ties with Madrid has been portrayed by supporters as a historic shift to a new system of federal government that responds more directly to the will of its various peoples.
But the low voter turnout has drawn accusations from critics that the vote was far more momentous for politicians than for ordinary citizens.
About 50 percent of the eligible voters stayed away from the polls, according to figures from the regional government. That was nearly 10 percent more than had been expected.
"We were told that it was necessary to do all this, to get into this tremendous mess because there was a clamor from Catalan society calling for a new statute" governing the region's relationship with Madrid, Josep Piqué, president of the Catalan branch of the center-right Popular Party, said Monday at a news conference.
"Well, we have seen that more than half of Catalan society did not even bother to vote," he said.
A poll released in May by the Center for Sociological Investigations, a government-funded polling organization in Madrid, found that about 50 percent of Catalans said the result of the referendum Sunday was of little or no concern to them.
"This is not a daily concern of citizens," Piqué said. "What they are concerned about is the lack of safety on the streets. They are concerned about immigration. They are concerned about the price of housing, the quality of education, the things that should occupy the attention of those of us who have political responsibilities."
But the motives underlying low voter turnouts are notoriously difficult to pin down, political scientists say.
Ferran Requejo, a professor of political science at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, said that the low turnout could reflect a disconnect between the public and their politicians, as Piqué contends.
"But you can also make the opposite argument," Requejo said in a telephone interview.
"It could be that people abstained because they knew it would be approved and they thought that was fine, so they saw no need to vote," he added.
Spain's Socialist Party, which invested significant political capital to campaign for a yes vote Sunday, accused critics of focusing on turnout in an effort to undermine the legitimacy of a vote that the party said clearly reflected the will of the Catalan people.
"I would like to ask members and voters of the Popular Party to correct their anti-constitutional course," José Blanco, one of the Socialist Party's most visible faces, said Monday at a news conference.
It is time, he said, "to accept the results expressed by the citizens of Catalonia at the polls."
The plan, which was approved Sunday by 74 percent of those casting votes, grants the region broad new powers of self-government on issues such as education, immigration policy and judicial affairs.
It also allows the region to keep more of its tax money, acknowledges that it considers itself a nation and states that it is the duty of all residents to learn the Catalan language.
The plan, known as the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, was energetically supported by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who said it would settle for a generation the perpetually thorny question of how to keep Catalonia content within Spain while dealing with its demands for more powers of self-government.
But critics of the plan have charged that it will only encourage the Catalans to make bolder demands.
In his comments Monday, Piqué of the Popular Party noted that the most influential political group in Catalonia, the Convergència i Unió, had made clear that it saw the plan as a first step toward even greater autonomy.
Another Catalan party, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, had rejected the plan, saying it was too moderate.
Mariano Rajoy, president of the Popular Party, said that the statute not only failed to satisfy the Catalans but also would encourage other regions to present similar proposals.
Spain is moving toward a new model of government, he said Monday, in which "we are naturally going to have a state that is weaker and weaker, with less and less authority."
Zapatero and his allies scoff at such comments, saying they are intended to scare the public into turning against his Socialist Party.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:10 AM
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