Rajoy derides plebiscite elections

Spain's prime minister yesterday derided the September 27 elections as being a plebiscite, stating that “The September elections will be the same as any elections held anywhere in Spain. They will simply elect members to parliament and nothing else”. Calling the elections by any other name or giving them any other significance is “attempting to fool the people”, he said. Rajoy also denied that the independence movement in Catalonia had grown and claimed that “it is obvious from the failure of the pseudo-referendum in November”. Rajoy accused CiU and ERC of creating instability in Catalonia. In reply, Generalitat president Artur Mas said that Rajoy's attitude had left Catalonia with no choice than to call plebiscite elections due to his refusal to allow Catalan's their democratic right to decide their own future in the same way that the United Kingdom and Canada had down when the people of Quebec and Scotland had asked to be heard on their future status as part of those countries.