Catalans wave their flag. REUTERS/Albert Gea Nearly 81% of 2.25 million Catalans who participated in a simulated referendum Sunday said they wanted autonomy from Spain, according to preliminary results cited by the Financial Times and other news outlets.



Catalan Vice President Joana Ortega announced the results of the vote on Monday morning at 12:30 a.m. with just over 88% of the returns in from polling stations, according to the Spain Report. 80.72% of Catalans voted yes-yes to a two-part question asking whether they wanted Catalonia to be a state and whether they wanted that state to be autonomous.

However, anti-independence groups in Catalonia — a region with 7.5 million people that includes Spain's second-largest city, Barcelona — largely boycotted the referendum, according to the FT. Therefore, the results were obviously skewed toward independence.

Before the results were announced, Catalan President Artur Mas had this to say, according to the Spain Report:

“We want a definitive vote. Today we have become stronger as a country. We have taken a huge step forward.”

“We have made it very clear that Catalonia wants to govern itself. We want to decide our political future and we have demonstrated that.”

Catalan President Artur Mas holds up his ballot before casting it during a symbolic independence vote in Barcelona on Sunday. REUTERS/Paul Hanna Catalans have wanted independence from Spain for quite some time, but this was the first time they voted on it, according to the Los Angeles Times. A lot of Catalans suffered after Spain's civil war of 1936-1939 and, in more recent years, wealthy Catalans resented subsidizing the poorer regions of the country, according to The Times.

The so-called consultation of citizens on Sunday came after the central government blocked a more formal ballot, NBC News reported. Pro-independence groups have campaigned heavily even though the vote was merely symbolic. In fact, these grassroots groups actually had to set up the ballot themselves because of the central government's refusal to recognize it, Reuters reported.

Rafael Catala, the Justice Minister for Spain, has accused Catalonia's leader of organizing "an act of pure political propaganda, with no democratic validity. A sterile and useless event," according to Reuters.

For their part, pro-independence groups hope the Catalans' turnout will persuade Madrid to allow an official referendum in the future, according to NBC News.