Catalans go to the polls in regional elections
At 1pm, 24 percent of estimated 5.3 million registered voters had cast their ballots
Voters in Catalonia are at the polls today to elect a new regional premier and lawmakers to parliament, as well as local officials. As of 1pm (CET), 24 percent of the estimated 5.3 million registered voters had cast their ballots.
According to pre-election polls, the candidate from the Catalan nationalist CiU bloc Artur Mas is expected to win the race by as much as 10 percent, unseating the current Socialist premier José Montilla.
The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) has governed the region for seven years and until 2003 the CiU had held power for 23 years. Many analysts believe that today's vote will be seen as punishment for Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Socialist government should the PSC be thrown out of office.
Faced with the worst economic crisis since the return of Spanish democracy in 1975, Zapatero is currently trying to calm international fears that Spain will need a European Union bailout similar to Greece and Ireland.
