President of Catalonia, Artur Mas signs independence referendum decree

The President of the Catalan government, Artur Mas, today signed a decree calling a referendum on independence from Spain to be held on 9 November. The decree would allow the Catalan people to cast a vote on whether they wish to secede from Spain and become and independent state. Specifically, the referendum would be putting a double question to a vote: ‘Do you want Catalonia to be a state?’ Voters who answer ‘yes’ to this question would then have the option of voting on another question: ‘Do you want this state to be independent?’

The coming days will be decisive in determining whether Catalans are given the chance to vote on 9 November on the matter of independence from Spain, a referendum that the Spanish government wants to prevent.