BARCELONA — ELECTION gains by Spain’s Catalan separatists spurred their independence drive in a setback for regional president Artur Mas that may deepen his standoff with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.Mr Mas, who called early elections to force the debate on independence, lost a dozen seats in the 135-member regional assembly, getting 50 for his Convergencia i Unio (CiU) party in Sunday’s vote. The separatist Catalan Republican Left, known as ERC, more than doubled its seats to 21 from 10. Almost two-thirds of the seats went to parties that back a referendum.The setback for Mr Mas showed his bid for a mandate backfired, leaving him dependent on anti-austerity separatists to govern Spain’s largest regional economy. Mr Rajoy, hurt by recession and speculation that Spain needs a European bail-out, says a referendum on secession is unconstitutional."Once Rajoy gets over dancing about the fact that Mas has not had a good result, he’s going to realise that this is not a good result...
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