Artur Mas Reelected as Catalan President

Artur Mas, head of the Convergence and Union group, was re-elected as president of Catalonia on Friday.

Mas was elected by lawmakers in a 71-63 vote.

Mas called early elections in November having proposed the referendum after Spain rejected demands to grant the region special fiscal powers. However, his party did worse than expected in the election and was left needing a provisional partnership agreement with Catalonia's pro-independence Republican Left, The Scotsman has reminded.

Recently, the CiU part of Artur Mas and the more radical Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya led by Oriol Junqueras agreed to stage a referendum on the independence of the region in Northeastern Spain in 2014.

Spain's economic crisis has fanned separatism in Catalonia, where many of the 7.6 million residents believe that the region would have weathered the crisis better without transferring part of its tax revenue to poorer Spanish regions.

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