STORY: :: Catalans head to vote in a key regional election between an exiled separatist leader

:: and an anti-independence government led by the Socialist Party

:: May 12, 2024

:: Barcelona, Spain

Opinion polls forecast a comfortable lead for Socialist candidate Salvador Illa over the hardline separatist Junts and its more moderate rival Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), which currently governs the wealthy northeastern region.

Junts' candidate is Carles Puigdemont, who was Catalonia's president during an ill-fated attempt to wrest the region from Spain in 2017 before fleeing to Belgium, and he has vowed to resurrect an independence bid.

Puigdemont faces prosecution in Spain over the failed independence bid, which triggered the country's worst political crisis in decades. He is set to return home following an amnesty put forward by the Socialist national government that would annul the arrest warrant he faces.

Puigdemont his been campaigning in France near the Spanish border and will be watching the elections there with his Junts party members.