BARCELONA, Spain _ Spain's Catalonia region staged a peaceful, orderly vote Thursday to pick a new regional parliament, but an independence dispute with the country's central government was virtually certain to reignite no matter the outcome.
Fueled by an after-work surge of balloting, turnout was strong, an estimated 70 percent of the 5.5 million-member electorate. Pre-election polls pointed to a nearly even split among people favoring and opposing independence for the prosperous northeastern region.
Catalonia's independence drive has triggered Spain's deepest political crisis in decades. An October independence referendum _ which was won by the secessionists, but with a turnout of less than half the eligible voters _ was branded illegal by the central government in Madrid.
Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, responded to the regional parliament's unilateral independence declaration later that month by dissolving the Catalan government and calling new regional elections _ the vote that took place Thursday.
In Barcelona, the region's capital, Carmen Canut stood in line at her neighborhood school to cast a vote for Junts per Catalunya, or Together for Catalonia, a party that wants to make the region into an independent country.
"This is a historic moment," Canut said. "I will fight to the end because Spain, for me, is not a democratic country."
A decisive outcome is unlikely, however, meaning that parties will likely need to form rival coalitions, with the largest of them seeking a mandate to govern.
It was far from a normal election campaign. The deposed regional president, Carles Puigdemont, stumped for votes from self-imposed exile in Belgium, where he fled in October.
Catalonia's former vice president, Oriol Junqueras, campaigned from a jail near Madrid. He and other incarcerated separatist politicians could face charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.
People vote for parties, not individual candidates, and the parties then allocate seats from their "lists" for the four-year parliamentary terms. Parties must win at least 3 percent of the vote to gain seats in the parliament.
The results were expected to be known a few hours after the polls closed at 8 p.m. local time.
With the balloting taking place on a weekday, a working day for most, some voters hurried in with only moments to spare. Emilio Carrillo, 32, scooted in after spending the day at his consulting job, voting for an anti-independence party.
Like many, he was frustrated over social issues and the economy taking a back seat to the secession question. "This is a distraction from other problems," he said.
Even before voting began at 9 a.m., a long queue formed outside the Josep Maria Jujol school in the Barcelona neighborhood of Gracia, a pro-independence bastion.
Olga Navarro Pousa, 63, who was first in line, was going against neighborhood sentiment to cast her ballot for a pro-Spanish unity party.
Like many, Navarro mourned the political rifts that have split families and neighborhoods. "We were all friends here," she said. "I want to return to what we were before."
Others, including many young people, feared an independent Catalonia would be shunned by the European Union, to which they feel a strong attachment.
Ernesto Lopez Vallez, 21, arrived at his polling place wrapped in an EU flag, intending to vote for an anti-independence party because he wanted Catalonia to stay with Spain and thus remain part of the European Union.
A voting official asked Lopez to shed the flag. "I didn't know the European Union was a political symbol," he said.
European leaders have sided with the Madrid government in opposing Catalan independence, fearing that secession would galvanize other separatist movements across the continent.
Some voters at the school looked relieved and smiled after they dropped off their ballots. Others were simply in a rush to get to work, or later, hurrying to get home.
"There are so many people," said Candy Exposito as she pushed through the crowd to leave for her human resources job. She voted for a pro-independence party.
The vote was largely peaceful, in contrast to the chaotic clashes that accompanied October's referendum, leaving hundreds hurt. This time, all the candidates had called beforehand for calm.
Albert Cortes, 25, who voted for the small leftist pro-independence party CUP, or Popular Unity Candidacy, said the first polling place he tried in the October referendum had been sealed off by police. This time, he voted without incident.
"We are going to let the people vote tranquilly today," said Ines Arrimadas, leader of the anti-independence party Ciudadanos, or Citizens. She expressed hopes the region would return "to reconciliation."
Puigdemont tweeted a photo of a young voter casting her ballot, calling it an important day not only for the present, but for the Catalonia of the future.
