One year ago, failing to win the independence referendum, Scottish PM Alex Salmond swiftly resigned. This has not been the case of President Artur Mas. At the end of the day, Spain, as the local cliché goes, is different, and Catalonia remains part of Spain.
Following a very emotional and tense campaign, the pro-independence parties have won an absolute majority of seats in the Catalan regional parliamentary elections of September 27. Yet, they have lost the plebiscite they had claimed this election would be. They wanted a clear and overwhelming mandate, and a clear and overwhelming mandate there is not.
They now backtrack by saying there are many "yes" votes hidden in not pro-independence parties' vote. But the truth is that the explicit "yes" obtained 1.957.467 ballots, and the "others" 2.120.467 ballots. The difference is exactly 163.000 ballots. The rest is hot air.
