THE eyes of the world will be on Catalonia today as its people return to the polls to vote for a new government following months of political turmoil.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called the election hoping Catalans will back a pro-Spain majority in a bid to quell the movement for self-determination.

But with opinion polls suggesting the result is on a knife-edge there are suggestions the move could backfire and that the Yes or Si parties will again take a majority of seats in the Barcelona parliament.

Campaigning has been taking place in the absence of many of the key players behind the historic referendum which saw a yes vote on 1 October and led to independence being declared.

The international community watched the referendum and its aftermath unfold in horror as members of the public were beaten up by the Spanish police, ballot boxes confiscated, the Catalan government dissolved, independence supporting politicians jailed, and direct rule was imposed.

More than 800 Catalans were seriously injured and had to be treated in hospital. Disturbing images showed women being pulled out of polling stations by the hair and people protecting ballot boxes.

After the vote and the declaration of independence Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan President, was forced into exile in Belgium where he remains, facing up to 30 years in prison if he returns to Spain where he faces charges of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds. His party, which translates as “Together for Catalonia”, has seen rising levels of support in the polls with the prospect it could again become the largest pro-independence party in Catalonia — with a chance it could lead a new Catalan government.

Speaking on Radio Catalunya, Puigdemont said yesterday he was “convinced that with their votes the Catalans will not legalise the beheading of the government”.

Despite Puigdemont’s apparent popularity, there is also splits in the independence movement.

His pro-independence rival Oriol Junqueras is languishing in a prison near Madrid and was critical of Puigdemont leaving the country.

In a rare radio interview from prison this week, he said: “I never hide from [the consequences of] what I do.”

A European arrest warrant against Puigdemont was dropped by the Spanish courts two weeks ago but could be re-instated.

The charges mean that even if he can build up enough support this week to become the largest independence party and form a government, he is unlikely to be able to become president: Spanish police have indicated he would be arrested the moment he entered the country.

In Catalonia, many people who had mixed feelings about independence, or did not care about the issue much, now feel compelled to take a position.

Gabriel Brau, a 50-year-old photographer, said he will vote for the first time since the 1980s, and for one of the parties that favours independence — because of the crackdown by Spain on the October vote. “What happened on October 1 affected me in a powerful way,” he said. “I was thinking: ‘What if they did that to my son?’ That is not democracy. ... I don’t want these people to govern my country.”

But the pro-Spain other side has also been galvanised. Catalans who oppose independence previously kept a low profile. Coming out as a unionist, they said, would have resulted in scorn, insults and even accusations of treason from pro-independence friends and neighbours.

No European Union country has recognised the declaration of independence that Catalonia’s parliament adopted on October 27.

EU leaders were criticised after the vote for failing to condemn police violence and for continuing to backing Rajoy despite his hardline handling of the situation.

The plan is to restore regional government after today’s election, though Catalans supporting independence are now even more committed to their cause, saying the Spanish government’s response showed the true nature of the Spanish state.

“They don’t realise how many people they converted,” said Ana Pousa, 38, who was born in the north-western Galicia region but grew up in Catalonia and now hesitates to call herself Spanish.

The movement for independence is to a large extent driven by the notion that Catalonia’s culture and language make it different from Spain. History too exerts a powerful influence.

Catalans live under the memory of the fate of their 123rd President Lluis Companys. He was driven into exile after the Spanish civil war, but was captured and handed over by the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo, to the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Companys was brought back to Barcelona and, refusing to wear a blindfold, was taken barefoot before a firing squad of Civil Guards in October 1940.

As they fired on him, he shouted ‘Per Catalunya!’ (For Catalonia!). Companys is regarded as a Catalan hero and remains the only democratically elected president in European history to have been executed.