BARCELONA, Spain _ Pro-independence parties in Spain's Catalonia region appeared on track Thursday to win a majority in regional parliamentary elections, but the balloting painted a picture of a public deeply divided over whether to renew a drive to secede from Spain.
The vote _ orderly and peaceful, unlike an independence referendum held in October over the objections of the central government in Madrid _ gave two pro-independence parties enough votes to form a government, according to provisional results, but it wasn't clear whether they could agree to form a coalition.
With nearly all of the vote counted, the anti-independence party Cuidadanos, or Citizens, appeared to have won a plurality of 37 seats in the 135-member parliament, but was far from reaching the required 68-seat majority for a mandate to govern, according to the unofficial tally.
Two separatist parties _ Junts Per Catalunya, or Together for Catalonia, and Esquerra Republicana or Republican Left _ scored 34 and 32 seats, respectively. With four more seats from a smaller pro-secession party, that would give them a combined majority of 70 seats, but they will need to overcome internal bickering.
Fueled by an after-work surge of balloting, turnout was high, with more than 80 percent of the 5.5 million-member electorate casting ballots. Pre-election public opinion polls had 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 Together for Catalonia.
"This is a historic moment," Canut said. "I will fight to the end because Spain, for me, is not a democratic country."
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.
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 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 Citizens party. 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.
