Catalan parliament December 2017 With 99% of votes counted 50% of seats ERC JxC Cs pro-independence 2015 % vote Seats ERC Republican Left 21.4 32 JxC Together for Catalonia 21.7 34 CUP Popular Unity Candidacy 4.5 4 Comú Catalonia in Common 7.4 8 PP People's party 4.2 3 PSC Socialists 13.9 17 Cs Citizens 25.4 37 Seats won by province Barcelona Girona Lleida Tarragona Barcelona ERC: 18 JxC: 17 CUP: 3 Comú: 7 PP: 3 PSC: 13 Cs: 24 Tarragona ERC: 5 JxC: 4 Comú: 1 PP: 1 PSC: 2 Cs: 5 Girona ERC: 4 JxC: 7 CUP: 1 PSC: 1 Cs: 4 Lleida ERC: 5 JxC: 6 PP: 1 Cs: 3 Seats are awarded by a list system in four provinces. Barcelona's is by the far the biggest by population and has most of the seats in parliament, although it is slightly under-represented. It is also the least independence-minded part of the region.

Report: Sam Jones and Stephen Burgen in Barcelona

Catalan pro-independence parties have held their absolute majority in snap regional elections, dealing a severe blow to the Spanish government, which had called the polls in the hope of heading off the secessionist push.



The three separatist parties won a total of 70 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament even though the centre-right, pro-unionist Citizens party was the single biggest winner, taking 36 seats.



Together for Catalonia – the party led by deposed Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont – took 34 seats, the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) took 32 and the far-left, anti-capitalist Popular Unity Candidacy took four. On Thursday night, a jubilant Puigdemont termed the results a victory for “the Catalan republic”.



Between them, the three parties will have enough seats to reassemble the parliamentary majority that put them into office after the 2015 elections if they can agree a new coalition.