Catalunya 'IndyRef': Only four in 10 consider it 'valid' and 'legal'

SIX in 10 residents in Catalunya believe the planned referendum is 'illegal' or 'invalid' and will not vote, according to a poll in national daily broadsheet El País – but regional president Carles Puigdemont has not set a minimum turn-out and plans to declare independence if anything over half of the remaining 40% vote for it.

This said, a high number of catalanes of all political persuasions firmly believe that a referendum agreed in format, date and legality by both the Spanish State and Catalunya is necessary.

Among those who would normally vote for the left-wing socialists (PSOE), three-quarters want to see an 'agreed' referendum, whilst 57% of those who voted for centre-right Ciudadanos and even 49% of citizens who voted for the currently-reigning right-wing PP believe this is the way forward.

Just two weeks ago, after Spain's Constitutional Court officially blocked the referendum – a verdict which has been ignored by Puigdemont's team – a total of 56% of residents in Catalunya said they did not consider the voting to be legal or valid, but this has since risen to 61%, according to El País.

An overwhelming number of Catalunya's residents, irrespective of whom they voted for or would vote for in the general elections, believe a referendum agreed by both parties is the way forward – over eight in 10 hold this opinion, according to a survey by Metroscopia – and only 31% believe that even if the current referendum on October 1 goes ahead, it would carry enough guarantees of being considered valid and legal internationally.

Nearly six in 10, or 57%, believe negotiations between Catalunya and Spain should form the basis of any referendum, in the same way as the Basque Country did 14 years ago with its famous 'Ibarretxe Plan'.

Only 52% believe Catalunya's regional Parliament processed the referendum law correctly.

Six in 10 totally disagree with Spain's having applied Article 155 of the national Constitution, which allows the State to take over Catalunya's finances, and the vast majority – 82% - believe national president Mariano Rajoy's 'warlike' response to the referendum plan has simply given more fuel to the independence drive rather than lessening it.

Another poll, by right-wing broadsheet La Razón, shows that the pro-independence parties in Catalunya – PDeCAT, CUP and the Catalunya Left Republicans (ERC) – who currently govern in coalition would lose their majority if another regional election were to be held now.

ERC would win the most seats, with 41; Ciudadanos would net 24; PDeCAT 18, the socialists, 17; CSQP, 15; the PP 13 – two more than currently – and the CUP would earn seven.

This means the independence coalition would be two seats short of the 68 they would need to govern in a majority.

The socialists would earn an extra seat and Ciudadanos would lose one, but would continue to be the second-strongest political force in Catalunya.

Asked to rate party leaders on a scale of 1-10, the CUP's head, Anna Gabriel, was given 3; Xavier García Albiol of the PP, 3.1; Inés Arrimadas of Ciudadanos, 3.7; Carles Puigdemont and Barcelona's mayoress Ada Colau, 4.1; Miquel Iceta of the socialists, 4.2, and Catalunya's deputy president and head of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, would score 4.3 out of 10.