Editing Self-determination (section)

=== Catalonia ===
{{Main|Catalonia|Catalan Countries|Catalan independence movement|Catalan declaration of independence}}

After the [[2012 Catalan march for independence]], in which between 600,000 and 1.5 million citizens marched,<ref>{{cite web|title=Catalunya clama por la independencia|url=http://www.elperiodico.com/es/diada-2012/20120911/manifestacion-diada-en-barcelona-2202293|website=ElPeriodico|date=11 September 2012|publisher=El Periodico|access-date=20 October 2017}}</ref> the [[President of the Generalitat of Catalonia|President of Catalonia]], [[Artur Mas]], called for new [[2012 Catalonian parliamentary election|parliamentary elections on 25 November 2012]] to elect a new [[Parliament of Catalonia|parliament]] that would exercise the right of self-determination for Catalonia, a right not recognised under the [[Cortes Generales|Spanish Cortes Generales]]. The [[Parliament of Catalonia]] voted to hold a vote in the next four-year legislature on the question of self-determination. The parliamentary decision was approved by a large majority of MPs: 84 voted for, 21 voted against, and 25 abstained.<ref>{{cite web|title=Two thirds of the Catalan Parliament approve organising a self-determination citizen vote within the next 4 years |url=http://www.catalannewsagency.com/news/politics/two-thirds-catalan-parliament-approve-organising-self-determination-citizen-vote-withi |publisher=Catalan News Agency |date=28 September 2013 |access-date=29 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001020028/http://www.catalannewsagency.com/news/politics/two-thirds-catalan-parliament-approve-organising-self-determination-citizen-vote-withi |archive-date=October 1, 2012 }}</ref> The Catalan Parliament applied to the Spanish Parliament for the power to call a referendum to be devolved, but this was turned down. In December 2013 the President of the Generalitat Artur Mas and the governing coalition agreed to set the referendum for self-determination on 9 November 2014, and legislation specifically saying that the consultation would not be a "referendum" was enacted, only to be blocked by the [[Constitutional Court of Spain|Spanish Constitutional Court]], at the request of the Spanish government. Given the block, the Government turned it into a simple "consultation to the people" instead.

The question in the consultation was "Do you want Catalonia to be a State?" and, if the answer to this question was yes, "Do you want this State to be an independent State?". However, as the consultation was not a formal referendum, these (printed) answers were just suggestions and other answers were also accepted and catalogued as "other answers" instead as null votes. The turnout in this consultation was about 2·3m people out of 6·2m people that were called to vote (this figure does not coincide with the census figure of 5·3m for two main reasons: first, because organisers had no access to an official census due to the non-binding character of the consultation, and second, because the legal voting age was set to 16 rather than 18). Due to the lack of an official census, potential voters were assigned to electoral tables according to home address and first family name. Participants had to sign up first with their full name and national ID in a voter registry before casting their ballot, which prevented participants from potentially casting multiple ballots. The overall result was 80·76% in favor of both questions, 11% in favor of the first question but not of the second questions, 4·54% against both; the rest were classified as "other answers". The voter turnout was around 37% (most people against the consultation did not go to vote). Four top members of Catalonia's political leadership were barred from public office for having defied the Constitutional court's last-minute ban.

[[File:Un any de l'1-O DC89725 (44160742095).jpg|thumb|Protest in [[Barcelona]] on 1 October 2018]]
Almost three years later (1 October 2017), the Catalan government called a [[2017 Catalan independence referendum|referendum for independence]] under legislation adopted in September 2017, despite this legislation had been suspended by the Constitutional Court for "violating fundamental rights of citizens",<ref>{{Cite web|last=López-Fonseca|first=El País, Rebeca Carranco, Óscar|date=2017-10-17|title=Spain's Constitutional Court strikes down Catalan referendum law|url=https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/10/17/inenglish/1508250970_489373.html|access-date=2021-04-05|website=EL PAÍS|language=en}}</ref> with the question "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a Republic?". On polling day, the Catalan regional police, which had been accused in the past of [[police brutality]] and impunity during the 15-M protests,<ref>{{Cite web|title=How police brutality helped Spain's 15-M protests {{!}} Iberosphere {{!}} News, comment and analysis on Spain, Portugal and beyond|date=2 June 2011 |url=https://iberosphere.com/2011/06/spain-news-how-police-brutality-helped-spain%e2%80%99s-15-m-protests/2978|access-date=2021-04-05|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-10-03|title=Los Mossos, un historial de abusos e impunidad|url=https://www.abc.es/espana/abci-historial-abusos-impunidad-201710030349_noticia.html|access-date=2021-04-05|website=abc|language=es}}</ref> prevented voting in over 500 polling stations without incidents. In some voting stations, the Catalan regional police did not intervene,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Carranco|first=Rebeca|date=2018-09-30|title=El 1 de octubre: el día del divorcio policial|language=es|work=El País|url=https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/09/28/catalunya/1538157382_335488.html|access-date=2021-04-05|issn=1134-6582}}</ref> while in other stations they directly confronted the Spanish CNP (National Police Corps) to allow voters to participate.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2017-10-01|title=Vídeo: Encontronazos entre cuerpos de seguridad en el exterior de los colegios electorales|language=es|work=El País|url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/10/01/videos/1506865282_972654.html|access-date=2021-04-05|issn=1134-6582}}</ref> The CNP confiscated ballot boxes and closed down 92,<ref>{{cite web|title=Els Mossos van tancar 600 col·legis electorals; la policia espanyola i la Guàrdia Civil, 92 |url=https://www.rac1.cat/info-rac1/20171005/431811387579/els-mossos-van-tancar-600-collegis-electorals-la-policia-espanyola-i-la-guardia-civil-92.html |publisher=RAC1 |date=6 October 2017 |access-date=22 May 2018 }}</ref> voting centres with violent truncheon charges. The opposition parties had called for non-participation. The turnout (according to the votes that were counted) was 2.3m out of 5.3m (43.03% of the census), and 90.18% of the ballots were in favour of independence.<ref>{{cite web |title=El Govern trasllada els resultats definitius del referèndum de l'1 d'octubre al Parlament de Catalunya |url=http://premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/AppJava/notapremsavw/303541/ca/govern-trasllada-resultats-definitius-referendum-l1-doctubre-parlament-catalunya.do |publisher=Catalan News Agency |date=6 October 2017 |access-date=22 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523011210/http://premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/AppJava/notapremsavw/303541/ca/govern-trasllada-resultats-definitius-referendum-l1-doctubre-parlament-catalunya.do |archive-date=23 May 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  The turnout, ballot count and results were similar to those of the 2014 "consultation".