By Stephanie Burnett
The statement comes a day after separatist parties won the Catalan elections
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has congratulated the unionist Ciudadanos party for securing the most seats as a single party in Catalan parliament—but refused calls to meet with ousted leader Carles Puigdemont, who is poised to form a coalition government.
When asked if Rajoy would meet with Puigdemont, who is in self-imposed exile in Brussels, the prime minister said he would only meet with “the party that won the elections”.
“I will sit with the one who won the Catalan elections and that is the leader of the Ciudadanos party,” said Rajoy. Ines Arrimadas is the leader of the centre-right party.
No party won the elections outright, but three separatist parties took 70 of the 135-seat parliament, including Puigdemont’s party (34) and the Republican Left known as ERC (32).
Ciudadanos scored 37 seats and fellow unionists, the Socialists party, took 17—falling short of the 68 needed to gain control of the regional government.
For more read the full of article at The Euronews
