MADRID (Sputnik) — Catalonia’s chief prosecutor Jose Maria Romero de Tejada ordered Catalan law enforcement agencies to seize the ballot boxes, ballot papers and voter lists for Catalonia’s referendum on independence on October 1, the day of the vote.
Catalonia’s police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, has received de Tejada’s order, according to which they also must identify the people responsible for organizing polling stations and inform them that these sites can not be used as for voting. According to the instructions, law enforcement officials must take statements from these persons as witnesses and request documentation associated with the vote.
Catalonia’s Parliament on September 6 passed a bill enabling the independence referendum to be held on October 1. Madrid called the bill illegal and challenged it in the Constitutional Court. The next day, the Constitutional Court accepted the lawsuit for review, which means the suspension of the legislation.
Public polls show that 41 percent of Catalonia's residents support the independence of the region, while 49 percent oppose it. Around 80 percent of Catalans are convinced that the vote should be held, but the majority of them believe that the plebiscite can take place only after Madrid authorizes it.
