Prof Steven Wheatley
The Catalonia regional government has signalled its intention to go ahead with a vote on independence on 9 November despite the opposition of the central government in Madrid. The vote has been modified in light of restrictions imposed by the Spanish courts, and will now be organised by volunteers, without any formal electoral roll. The vote in Catalonia follows the referendum in Scotland (where the population voted ‘No’ to independence) and the hastily arranged and badly organized referendums in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk or Luhansk (‘Yes’ to independence or greater autonomy – the question on the ballot is unclear) and Ukrainian region of Crimea (‘Yes’ to becoming a federal subject within the Russian Federation).
LancsLaw 