Catalonia is braced for rounds of tense negotiations on forming a government after the victorious socialists fell well short of an absolute majority in Sunday’s election and the fugitive former regional president Carles Puigdemont vowed to try to forge a separatist minority administration despite a punishing night for the Catalan independence movement.
The snap election, which was called in March by the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, after opposition parties voted down the budget proposed by his minority government, proved costly for separatist parties, who lost their parliamentary majority.
