In a televised appearance from Brussels, the 54 year-old former journalist didn't make clear if he would try to return home, where an arrest warrant awaits him. The other main winner was Ines Arrimadas, the leading unionist candidate. Scoring 25 percent of the votes, her pro-business Ciutadans (Citizens) party won 37 seats, which will be the biggest single bloc in the 135-seat regional assembly.
"The pro-secession forces can never again claim they speak for all of Catalonia," Arrimadas said, promising her party will continue to oppose the separatists. "We are going to keep fighting for a peaceful co-existence, common sense and for a Catalonia for all Catalans."
But pro-independence parties — Puigdemont's Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), left-republican ERC and the anti-capitalist CUP — together won 70 seats, two above a majority but two less than in the previous parliament. The three groups fell short of winning a majority of votes, though, getting 48 percent of the total. Sky more