"Catalonia has once again displayed its political plurality", says Mariano Rajoy

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, remarked that, although some sought to turn the elections held on Sunday in Catalonia into a plebiscite and thus start a process to break away from the rest of Spain, what they actually did was to elect their representatives in the Regional Parliament.

However, the results from the ballot box confirm that "not even as many as four out of ten Catalans are committed to a break-away process".

Mariano Rajoy congratulated all the people of Catalonia for the high turnout recorded in these elections and for the "democratic maturity and responsibility" shown.

Govern for all the people of Catalonia

In his speech, Mariano Rajoy called on the Regional Government that comes out of the new Regional Parliament to "govern for all the people of Catalonia, to overcome the divisions, tension and confrontations that have marked recent years, to replace monologue and unilateral imposition with constructive and loyal dialogue, because it was once again shown yesterday that Catalonia is very plural".

Pool MoncloaIn this effort, he stated, they will receive "all the collaboration from my government, provided this is within the law and from a standpoint of full institutional respect", because "a strong and supportive country, such as ours, stands up to its challenges from a position of unity and with the cooperation of everyone".

The President of the Government expressed his willingness to listen and to talk. Dialogue with all the political groups is "very healthy and very democratic", but what we do not seek to do is "to break the law, the expression of the will of the majority or the rules we have enacted to maintain our co-existence", he declared.

In this regard, he asserted that the Government of Spain will continue to oversee "respect for the Rule of Law, the equality of all the Spanish people and the rights and liberties of one and all".