Catalonia 'referendum', a damp squib

(Agencies) Voters turned out yesterday in 166 municipalities of Cataluña in a non-binding 'referendum' aimed at putting pressure on the central government in negotiations for a new Estatut ('statute' in Catalan). Only 30% of those able to vote did so, 200,000 of 700,000 and considerably less than the 50% turnout for a referendum on the Estatut throughout Cataluña in 2006. Of these, the vote was overwhelmingly in favour of independence from Spain. However, most of the national media points out that the 166 municipalities were chosen for their 'independence approval' numbers, and, of course, the referendum has 'no legal validity whatsoever'.