CATALAN President Carles Puigdemont has decided against calling a snap parliamentary election in a bid to defuse tensions with Spain’s central government over the region’s independence aspirations.

He said yesterday that he considered called a snap poll, but chose not to because he did not receive enough in the way of guarantees from Spain that the conservative government’s “abusive” moves to take control of Catalonia would be suspended.

In a hastily called address in Barcelona, Puigdemont said the Catalan Parliament would decide today how to respond to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s unprecedented takeover plan under Article 155 of the country’s constitution.

The Spanish Senate in Madrid is expected to approve the measures today, which will see the first direct intervention by central authorities in the affairs of one of the country’s 17 autonomous regions.

Rajoy’s government had offered to halt the extraordinary measures if a new election were to be called in Catalonia, but backtracked on it.

In a day of confusing developments, Puigdemont arranged, cancelled and rearranged an official address for yesterday afternoon, before the region’s parliamentarians were set to debate their response to the Spanish government plans.

Later yesterday afternoon, the Catalan government announced that Puigdemont would make an address before the parliamentary debate. Local media had earlier said he was expected to use the address to call a snap election.

Such a move would have defused, at least temporarily, the month-long stand-off with Madrid but could have open wounds among the Catalan independence lobby.

The last-minute changes came amid continuing negotiations within the ruling Catalan coalition and between politicians in Barcelona and Madrid to avoid the suspension of regional powers.

In his statement from the Gothic gallery of the Catalan government palace, Puigdemont said he had considered exercising his power to call an election.

He added: “As the President, my duty and my responsibility is to exhaust all of the paths… to find a negotiated solution for a political conflict of a democratic nature.

“They know that I was willing to call these elections if, and only if, there were certain guarantees that they could be held with a certain normalcy.”

He said it was his duty to try “honestly and loyally” to avoid the impact on government institutions of Article 155.

“That application is outside the law, abusing and unjust and aims to eradicate not only sovereigntism, but also the entire Catalanism that has brought us to this moment in time.

“I do not accept these measures in part because they are unjust and in part because they mask, with hardly any compunctions, the vengeful intentions of a state that found itself defeated on October 1st.

“There is also no intention of stopping the repression and to provide an environment without violence so that the possible elections could have been celebrated.”

Puigdemont said it was now up to the existing Catalan Parliament to determine how to respond to Madrid’s plan. Legislators gathered shortly after his address. “Peace and civism must remain,” said Puigdemont. “Only this way, we will be able to win.”

It has never been clear how an election would have solved Spain’s dispute with Catalonia, as opinion polls have consistently shown that pro-independence parties would likely win the most seats again, especially after the brutality of State Police during the referendum.

Puigdemont had also appealed to the national senate, asking senators to reject Rajoy’s measures.

In an eight-page document submitted to the senate yesterday, he said Madrid was tackling the Catalan crisis by “trying to create an even more extraordinary serious situation by taking away the political autonomy of Catalonia”.