Catalunya goes to the polls

Madrid - The six million voters of Catalunya will go to the polls tomorrow to elect their new president and regional parliament…

Madrid - The six million voters of Catalunya will go to the polls tomorrow to elect their new president and regional parliament, and for the first time in almost 20 years the result is no foregone conclusion, Jane Walker reports.

The electorate must choose between the veteran politician, Mr Jordi Pujol (69), of the Catalan regional party (CiU) and President of the autonomous Catalan parliament since 1980, and Mr Pasqual Maragall (58), a Socialist and former Mayor of Barcelona. Opinion polls show that the two men are running virtually neck-and-neck or with such a slight majority for Mr Pujol that he will be forced to seek uncomfortable bedfellows to form a working government.