Soraya Saenz de Santamaria denies Catalan independence bid

SPANISH deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria is adamant that a majority for Catalan separatists isn’t a mandate for independence. She was speaking ahead of the Catalan parliamentary elections on September 27. The Popular Party minister said independence could only be decided by the entire Spanish electorate. Saenz de Santamaria stated that any majority separatist government shouldn’t not ‘put forward proposals that clash with the Spanish Constitution’. Saenz de Santamaria also defended the PP theory that the group who gets the most votes should be the one that governs. Meanwhile, Barcelona police estimate that 1.4million people attended Friday’s Catalan National Day independence rally through the city. The independence coalition, Junts pel Si, looked poised to seal victory in the regional elections.