Catalan parliament

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists are hoping to show Catalonia has turned away from its independence fixation by winning Sunday's regional vote and defeating separatist leader Carles Puigdemont.

When the polls open at 9:00 a.m. (07:00 GMT), the wealthy northeastern region of some eight million people will vote for 135 deputies to the Catalan parliament.

The demonstration was organized on the occasion of the National Day of Catalonia.

From the LSV, an opposition Serbian party, Beta agency was able to confirm that their delegation led by Secretary-General Bojan Kostres was in Barcelona.

The President of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, has proposed Jordi Sanchez as a candidate for prime minister after Carles Puigdemont withdrew his candidacy.

53-year-old Jordi Sanchez has little chance of becoming Catalan prime minister because of conflicts in the separatist camp and because he is in jail.

Catalonia's deposed leader Carles Puigdemont said Thursday he had abandoned his bid to return as regional president in an attempt to unblock a political impasse as the region remains without a fully-functioning government.

Carles Puigdemont is to request judicial permission to attend his inauguration as Catalan president after Spain's top court barred him from being sworn in from Belgium in an intensifying showdown over his bid to return to power, The Telegraph writes.

Spain's government has taken a first step towards preventing the election of former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont as head of the Spanish region, the deputy prime minister said on Thursday, quoted by Reuters. 

Today, the constituent meeting of the new Catalan Parliament will be held in Barcelona. In the early elections on 21 December, the nationalists received the most votes and again wanted to choose Carles Puigdemont as Prime Minister of the province.

The Catalan parliament will meet on Wednesday in a first step toward forming a local government after December's elections but questions remain over whether the wealthy northeastern region will continue to push for a split from Spain./ Reuters

The three Catalan separatist parties regained their absolute majority in the regional parliament, though the first political force is fighting to preserve the integrity of the Spain, the France press reported.

Catalonia is heading to the polls in a snap election to decide the future of the separatist project on Thursday./aljazeera.com/

The dismissed Catalan government, headed by former regional President Carles Puigdemont, declared independence from Spain on October 27.