A plate is a plate, and a glass is a glass, Rajoy said. Well, this is the tableware that the electrifying Catalan elections of 27-S left us with:
- When 77 percent of Catalan citizens vote, the message is strong and clear. The pro-independence front, which brings together Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) and the CUP (Popular Unity Candidacy) party, earned a clear majority in the Catalan parliament, winning 72 seats. It now has the legitimacy and strength, said Artur Mas, to keep pursuing its dream of secession.
- The pro-independence front loses the referendum. The anti-independence forces account for 52 percent, compared to the secessionist bloc's 47 percent. It's inconceivable that with these results, once the the cava wine bubbles evaporate, any serious politician (in Catalonia) will propose a unilateral declaration of independence. That would be undemocratic. But it's the first time that the option to secede takes such flight: more than 1.9 million votes is a cry that no serious politician (in Madrid) can ignore.
- In the polls, Ciudadanos breaks the roof: it tripled the results of the previous elections and, with 25 seats, stole the spotlight. The Sorpasso (overtaking) of the People's Party (PP) in Catalonia is a warning: will this happen again in the general elections in December? We will never know what result Albert Rivera would have achieved if he had been the candidate of the Generalitat, the Catalan government; but being the second force in Catalonia gives wings to his aspirations to get to the Moncloa Palace.
- The PP is increasingly irrelevant in Catalonia: it lost 10 seats, including Badalona -- where Xavier García Albiol was mayor -- which went to Junts pel Sí. It's a real slap in the face for the party and its campaign strategy. Today, there is a cold wind in Moncloa and Genoa street: Rajoy is proving to be incapable of facing the challenges in Catalonia.
- After a spectacular gain (from 3 to 10 seats), CUP now has the key to governance in Catalonia. If it fulfills its promise of not voting for Artur Mas as president, Junts pel Sí will be forced to come to an agreement on another candidate... and internal battle is guaranteed.
- Podemos loses momentum: ICV alone got more seats (13) than the new coalition. The 10 deputies Podemos got in the parliament is very far from what it had hoped for. Does it mean that its success in the past municipal elections -- Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz, Zaragoza -- was the zenith of its political career?
- The socialists are still alive. Maintaining almost the same number of votes as in the last Catalan elections -- after the internal bleeding and the appearance of new parties that contest their ideological territory -- justifies Miquel Iceta's sigh of relief, despite having lost four seats. And those half a million Catalan votes are worth their weight in gold in Pedro Sanchez's race toward the Moncloa Palace.
But beyond the news, the plates and the glasses, these elections show an unprecedented divide in Catalan society. Politicians and policies capable of healing wounds and weaving a new space for coexistence are needed. Catalonia, as of now, is at the center of the campaign for the general election.
This post first appeared on HuffPost Spain and was translated into English.