Jeff Dudgeon: Catalan separatists fall short of majority, yet it that stat is hard to find

I was particularity interested in hearing the result of the Catalan elections on Thursday and surprised just how difficult it was to get the key details.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Dec 2017, 08:52 BST
Updated 23rd Dec 2017, 09:37 BST
Polling station workers start to count votes for the Catalan regional election in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017. Separatists won a majority of the seats but not of the votes. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)Polling station workers start to count votes for the Catalan regional election in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017. Separatists won a majority of the seats but not of the votes. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)
Polling station workers start to count votes for the Catalan regional election in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017. Separatists won a majority of the seats but not of the votes. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

Most news outlets indicated the separatist parties had gained a majority of the seats in the parliament (70 out of 135 seats) but none seemed interested in explaining what percentage of the voters had plumped for the Catalan independence parties.

My research and calculator finally came up with the result: The separatists lost.

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Their three parties only managed 47.49%, so a majority of the voters chose parties that did not favour independence.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

Hopefully that is the matter settled for a decade.

Any chance the BBC could start carrying detailed results of elections? They are rather important.

Jeffrey Dudgeon, Ulster Unionist councillor, Belfast BT9

Related topics:BBC