Catalan republicans urge Spain to accept vote
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A prominent politician in Catalonia's left-wing republican ERC party says Spanish authorities need to accept election results that gave separatists a majority in the regional parliament.
"The (Catalan) Republic has won again in elections," Marta Rovira told reporters on Friday in Barcelona.
Separatist lawmakers passed an illegal independence declaration in late October. The Catalan Cabinet was ousted and faces possible charges over the secession push. Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is evading the probe in Brussels, while his deputy, ERC militant Oriol Junqueras, remains behind bars.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy "needs to accept dialogue with President Puigdemont and Vice President Junqueras," Rovira said, without clarifying if her party would support Puigdemont, whose ticket received more votes than ERC's.
Rajoy, Rovira said, "needs to put an end to this unjust exile and imprisonment."
