Catalan leader nixes election to end standoff
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The leader of Spain's secession-minded Catalonia region says he has decided against calling a parliamentary election that might have defused tension with the Spanish government.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said Thursday he considered calling a snap election, but was choosing not to because he didn't receive enough guarantees that the government's "abusive" moves to take control of Catalonia would be suspended.
In a hastily called address from his palace in Barcelona, the separatist leader said the regional parliament now will decide how to respond to the Spanish authorities' takeover plan.
The unprecedented measures are set to be approved on Friday in Madrid and will lead to the first direct intervention by central authorities in the affairs of one of the country's 17 autonomous regions.
Spain's conservative government had offered to halt the extraordinary measures if a new election was to be called in Catalonia, but recently backtracked on that.
