For the First Time since 2010, Catalonia Elects President Who is Against Separation from Spain

On 8 August, the Parliament of Catalonia elected Salvador Illa, a representative of the Socialist Workers' Party of Spain, headed by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, as president of the region. He is the first politician in 14 years to oppose independence from Spain.

This was reported by El Mundo.

68 members of the Generalitat (regional parliament) voted for the appointment of Illa as president of Catalonia, while 66 were against.

The socialist became the first leader of Catalonia since 2010 to be elected not from parties that advocate its independence. This happened after these parties lost their majority in the Generalitat elections in May.

Several pro-independence parties in Catalonia, including the Republican Party (ERC) and the far-left Catalunya en Comú, secured the votes of Illa in exchange for expanding the region's fiscal powers.

Such a change has yet to be approved by the Spanish parliament, where the Socialists, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, with the support of the far left and Catalan parties, have a small majority. The opposition and even Sánchez's own party members have criticised the ERC deal.

In his speech to the Catalan parliament, Salvador Illa promised to "fully implement" the coalition agreement with the Catalan separatists.

The fate of Pedro Sánchez's central government also depends on the support of these parties, as it was the Catalan MPs who gave the necessary votes to approve his premiership in exchange for an amnesty for the participants in the 2017 independence protests.

The election of the new president of Catalonia took place while law enforcement agencies are searching for the former leader of the region, Carles Puigdemont, one of the leading figures in the pro-independence movement seven years ago.