[JURIST] The president of Spain’s Catalonia region on Tuesday called off an independence vote that was scheduled for November 9. The vote was suspended [JURIST report] after the Spanish government challenged [JURIST report] its legality last month. Artur Mas [official website, in Catalan], president of the Catalonia region, stated that an unofficial poll will still be held next month to gauge the region’s secessionist sentiment. Catalan separatists have been trying to break away from Spain and form their own nation. The secessionist sentiment grew with Spain’s economic crisis and discontent with the nation’s refusal to grant Catalonia more autonomy and fiscal powers.

Catalan independence has been a contentious issue in recent years. The November referendum planned to ask voters if they want Catalonia to become a state, and, in the case of an affirmative response, if they want this state to be independent. Last month Catalan president Artur Mas [official website; in Catalan] signed a decree [JURIST report] calling for a referendum on secession and independence from Spain, inciting confrontation from Spain’s central government in Madrid. In February Spain’s parliament rejected [JURIST report] Catalonia’s proposed November referendum.