The last time Catalans turned out to vote, thousands of people lined up outside polling stations in the drizzle from before dawn, almost all of them hopeful of ushering in a sovereign republic.



On Thursday, almost three months after October’s illegal, unilateral referendum, the region’s voters returned to cast their ballots in an election called by the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, after he sacked the regional government.

The grey skies that greeted those referendum voters may have given way to Thursday’s clear blue, but the mood among those standing in line was more of resignation than excitement.

With polls pointing to a hung parliament and a close-run race for first place between the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left party (ERC) and the unionist, centre-right Citizens party, few expected any dramatic change in a region that is more or less evenly split on the question of secession.

Outside the polling station in the large Escola Ramon Llull in Barcelona, children played football on the patio while voters queued patiently. During the referendum, the school became emblematic of the Spanish police violence that marred the poll when riot officers dragged voters out, beat them with truncheons and fired rubber bullets at the crowd.

Aside from independence posters and pavements stencilled with images of Catalonia’s jailed former vice-president, Oriol Junqueras, there were few reminders of that day and its momentous consequences.

Quick Guide Elections in Catalonia Show Why elections are being held On 27 October, less than an hour after secessionist Catalan MPs voted to declare independence, Spain’s senate gave the country’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, power to assume control of Catalonia. As well as sacking the regional president, Carles Puigdemont, and his pro-independence government, Rajoy called snap elections to be held on 21 December. Candidates Although Puigdemont is in Belgium and his former vice-president Oriol Junquerasis in jail pending possible charges including rebellion and sedition, both they and their parties are going to contest the election. More than a dozen Catalan leaders face charges, but all are eligible to stand so long as they are not convicted and barred from public office. Among those also running are the anti-independence, centrist Ciutadans or Citizens party, the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, En Comú Podem-Catalunya en Comú coalition and Spain’s ruling conservative People’s party. What it means for independence Pro-independence parties used the polls two years ago as a de facto vote on splitting from Spain and Puigdemont’s coalition set about paving the way for the unilateral referendum. Pro-independence parties will be looking to use next week’s vote to maintain their momentum. Opposition parties will be looking to capitalise on the frustrations of the roughly 50% of Catalans opposed to independence. How voting works Members of the 135-seat Catalan parliament are elected using proportional representation. The seats are divided into four districts: at least 3% of the vote in each district is needed to win seats, and 68 seats are needed for a majority. The electoral system is weighted in favour of less populated rural areas.

Josep, a 52-year-old voter, was not expecting any political earthquakes. “I’ve voted with my conscience,” he said, but did not tell the Guardian what this meant. “I think we’ll get another hung parliament and we’ll get the same cycle and more elections. These elections may have been imposed, but they’re legitimate.”

Eduard Millan, a 31-year-old doctor from Barcelona, voted for Junqueras’s ERC. “[Independence] may not be close but it’s what I’m hoping for,” he said. “I think it will be like last time but I would like to see a leftist grouping.”

Eduardo Piquer and his daughter Marina were also at the school to vote. The self-employed 63-year-old would say only that he had cast his ballot for “the only one with balls”.

This could have been a reference to Junqueras, whose jailing stands in contrast to the actions of the former president, Carles Puigdemont, who decided to flee to Brussels rather than risk arrest and imprisonment on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.

Piquer was rather more forthright in his condemnation of Rajoy, berating the Spanish prime minister for refusing to let Catalans identify as they wished and suggesting he do something fairly obscene to himself.

He also had harsh words for King Felipe VI. By supporting Rajoy’s position, said Piquer, the monarch had shown that “the king of Spain isn’t king of everyone in Spain”.

As people voted, politicians of all stripes used Twitter to urge them to make sure their ballots counted. “If the same old people win, we’ll go back to declarations of independence and social fracture,” said the Citizens party leader, Albert Rivera. “If there’s change, we’ll go back to coexistence and the union of all Spaniards.”

Miquel Iceta, leader of the Catalan socialist party (PSC), also called for a fresh start. “I’ve just voted in my polling station,” he wrote. “I want everyone to participate in these decisive elections. I am convinced that the hope of an economically prosperous and socially just Catalonia will become reality for all of us. Let’s change course to ensure a better future.”

Puigdemont, meanwhile, sought to invoke memories of referendum day, tweeting: “Today we will demonstrate the strength of an irreducible people. May the spirit of the #1oct guide us always.”

His erstwhile colleague sent a far more personal message to mark his wedding anniversary. “Today I would like to be with you and the children more than ever,” he wrote to his wife, Neus. “By chance it is four years ago today that we were married. Four intense years but four years of happiness. I am convinced that soon I will leave and I will be able to embrace all three of you! I love you!”

Back at Escola Ramon Llull, Marta Robles emerged from the polling station after voting for Iceta’s PSC. Robles, a 38-year-old designer, said: “I’m not pro-independence but I’m on the left and I want to see what will happen if there’s a change. But I don’t know if we’ll get one.”

The problem, she said, was that Catalans remained deeply divided on the issue of independence – “and it’s difficult to change people”.