Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has moved to fire Catalonia’s president and his entire government using special powers in Spain’s constitution.

Speaking on Saturday after a crisis cabinet meeting to decide on measures to block the Catalan government’s attempts to achieve independence, Mr Rajoy said he would call elections in the region within six months in order to recover legality and the normal functioning of the country’s institutions.

Mr Rajoy said he had tried to avoid imposing direct rule on the wealthy region under the constitution’s Article 155, but that he had no choice after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont had failed to retract the claim that Catalonia has the right to declare independence after holding an illegal referendum.

“It was not our will, not our intention. We are applying Article 155 because no government of any democratic country can accept that the law be ignored, violated and changed by imposition.”

Article 155, never previously used since Spain’s constitution came into force in 1978, allows a government to take the “necessary measures” and “give instructions” to a regional authority when it acts beyond its legal scope.