A local referendum, in the town of
Arenys de Munt, was the first vote ever held on the question of Catalan independence, and led to a series of parallel non-binding referendums on the independence question in late 2009 and early 2010. The process began on 4 June 2009, when the municipal council in Arenys de Munt voted in favour of a motion presented by
Popular Unity Candidates (CUP), calling for a non-binding referendum on independence for Catalonia. The council sought to make locations available at which voters could cast ballots, and to facilitate the organization of the vote, but a
court ruling overruled the council's decision and the council had to abandon its efforts to facilitate the referendum. The referendum organizing committee then rented the "Centre Moral" (a sort of social club, a private entity) of the village in order to be able to conduct the vote. The Council continued to support to the initiative in principle, even though it complied with the court ruling. The mayor of Arenys de Munt,
Carles Móra, was particularly vocal in his support.
Referendum of September 13 (Arenys de Munt) Residents of the town of
Arenys de Munt were asked the following question: ''Està d'acord que Catalunya esdevingui un Estat de dret, independent, democràtic i social, integrat a la Unió Europea?'' (Do you agree on
Catalonia becoming an
independent,
democratic and social
constitutional state, integrated in the
European Union?). Despite the unofficial nature of the referendum, the relatively high participation rate (41%), which was higher than the one reached in the last
European election and in the
Spanish constitutional referendum of 1978, gave credibility to the exercise. The "Yes" side won a commanding 96.2% of valid votes, while the "No" obtained 2.3%.
Reactions to the Arenys de Munt referendum The Arenys de Munt referendum has been a historical precedent and many political parties, organizations and platforms showed their agreement. • Political parties like
Republican Left of Catalonia,
Popular Unity Candidates (CUP) and some prominent politicians of
Convergence and Union and
Initiative for Catalonia Greens gave full support to the query. • Meanwhile, groups like the
People's Party (PP),
Ciutadans,
Democratic Union of Catalonia (UDC) and a large sector of the
Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) showed clear disagreement with the query. • Some members of the PSC and UDC played down the query. The same night of the query, there were councils all over Catalonia who were interested to follow the lead of
Arenys de Munt such as
Argentona or
Seròs. In general, the initiative was criticized by the Spanish government, both
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and PP, and following the vote was open conflict between the two parties, as the PP accused the PSOE of having allowed an illegal query. Internationally, the echo was also quite important: three hundred journalists were accredited to monitor the day, and several television stations were in Arenys de Munt to monitor the event.
Referendums following the vote in Arenys de Munt During the same night of the Arenys de Munt query, many municipalities in Catalonia showed up in favor of queries like the one that had organized the town of the
Maresme. The following days, several consistories began to approve motions of support for queries on the independence promoted by entities of neighbors of the towns. Many separatist organizations supported the queries, until the Coordinator for the Consultation on Independence appeared, which will organize altogether. Thus began to emerge queries in the whole Catalan range that will be held in
phases. ==Query of 13-D==