1979 Catalan Statute of Autonomy referendum

Articles 143 and 151 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 provided for two ordinary procedures for regions to access autonomy status: • The "slow-track" route of Article 143, whose initiative required the approval of the corresponding Provincial or Island Councils as well as two-thirds of all municipalities which comprised, at least, a majority of the population in each province or island. Devolution for autonomous communities constituted through this procedure was limited for a period of at least five years from the adoption of the Statute of Autonomy. • The "fast-track" route of Article 151, whose initiative required the approval of the corresponding Provincial or Island Councils; three-fourths of all municipalities which comprised, at least, a majority of the population in each province or island; as well as its subsequent ratification through referendum requiring the affirmative vote of at least the absolute majority of all those eligible to vote. Transitory Provision Second of the Constitution waived these requirements for the "historical regions" which had statutes of autonomy approved by voters during the Second Spanish Republic, namely: Catalonia (1931), the Basque Country (1933) and Galicia (1936). Once initiated, failure in securing the requirements laid out in each of these procedures determined a five-year period during which the corresponding provinces or islands would not be able to apply for autonomy under the same Article. Draft statutes of autonomy approved under the procedure outlined in Article 151 of the Constitution required for its subsequent ratification in referendum, once ruled favourably by the Constitutional Commission of the Congress of Deputies. Under such Article, the ratification required the affirmative vote of at least a majority of those validly issued. The question asked was "Do you approve of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia Bill?" (). ==Background==

Historical precedents for Catalan autonomy after the Nueva Planta decrees of 1714 dated back to the Spanish Draft Constitution of 1873, with Catalonia as one out of the seventeen projected states within the Spanish federal state; the Commonwealth of Catalonia established in 1914 as the only such provincial association that came to exist; and finally as an autonomous region during the Second Spanish Republic. The death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and the start of the Spanish transition to democracy led to negotiations between the Spanish government under then Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez and Catalan president-in-exile Josep Tarradellas over the issue of Catalan autonomy. Political conflict arose between the Catalan opposition, which aimed at re-establishing the 1932 Statute, and Josep Tarradellas, who still considered himself the valid representative of the Government of Catalonia and aimed for its restoration with himself at its helm. After the 1977 Spanish general election an agreement was reached between the Spanish government, Tarradellas and the newly constituted Assembly of Parliamentarians, resulted in the second restoration of the regional Catalan government on 5 October 1977 and in Tarradella's return to Catalonia on 23 October. The new Catalan statute of autonomy would be drafted throughout 1978, and on 29 December the so-called "Statute of Sau" () was submitted to the Constitutional Commission of the Congress of Deputies for its review as outlined under Article 151. which had seen attempts from Tarradellas to delay the Statute's submittal to the Cortes until after the first ordinary Spanish general election in 1979. The parliamentary transaction of the proposed Statute bogged down for some months as a result of the dissolution of the Cortes Generales to hold the 1979 general election on 1 March and electoral campaigning for the subsequent local elections on 3 April, and again after the governing Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) sought to amend the proposed text in June 1979 to limit the extent of devolution on a number of issues, such as language, justice, education, economy, electoral system and public order. The final draft would be passed by the Constitutional Commission on 13 August 1979 after lengthy negotiations between the Catalan parties and Adolfo Suárez's government; the resulting text would be described by most Catalan politicians as improving on the level of devolution of that of 1932, though Tarradellas would express his disagreement over it. ==Date==

The date for the referendum of ratification of the Statute was set immediately after its approval in the Cortes Generales, being approved by decree by the Council of Ministers on 14 September 1979 and published in the Official State Gazette on 24 September. The referendum date was scheduled for Thursday, 25 October 1979, ==Campaign==

President Josep Tarradellas was initially opposed to supporting the Statute, affirming that it had been drafted "by some gentlement from the [political] parties and by Prime Minister Suárez" and that it was "not an agreement, but a diktat"; however, pressure from several regional ministers led to Tarradellas reluctantly accepting that the Executive Council recommended a "Yes" vote for the text ahead of the referendum. The regional Government launched an institutional campaign for the referendum under the "Vote the Statute" slogan (). The People's Alliance (AP) did not recommend any explicit choice for the Statute and gave freedom of vote to its supporters. The Socialist Party of Andalusia–Andalusian Party (PSA–PA) issued a manifesto during the campaign where it aimed for the Andalusian community in Catalonia to "have their rights guaranteed as a community with their own personality". ==Opinion polls==

The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading choice's colour. The "Lead" columns on the right show the percentage-point difference between the "Yes" and "No" choices in a given poll. ==Results==

Overall Results by province ==Aftermath==

The referendum resulted in the Statute being ratified by a wide margin, but the low turnout of 59.3%—partly attributed to bad weather during voting day—and the perceived poor preparations on the referendum logistics from the Government of Catalonia were met with disappointment within the Catalan political class. The Statute was brought to the Cortes Generales for its final ratification: the Congress would pass it on 29 November, the Senate would do likewise on 12 December, and the text would receive royal assent on 18 December to be published in the Official State Gazette on the 22nd. After speculation on whether President Tarradellas would choose to trigger a government crisis that could delay the first regional election indefinitely, negotiations with the central government resulted in it being scheduled for 20 March 1980. The Statute of Sau would allow Catalonia to acquire one of the highest levels of autonomy in Comparative Law, but it would also eventually lead to political conflict as other regions would attempt to achieve the same level of autonomy as that of the "historical regions". In January 1980, seeking to "rationalize" the autonomic process of all future autonomous regions over concerns that all would attempt to achieve maximum devolution within a short timeframe, the governing UCD officially would make public that it would not support the route of Article 151 for regions other than Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, instead suggesting the application of the "slow-track" route of Article 143, which would eventually to the party's defeat in the Andalusian autonomy initiative referendum, as well as to the signing of the first autonomic pacts between UCD and PSOE on 31 July 1981, would see the agreement for a joint calendar of devolution for the remaining regions. This would be embodied through the approval, in 1982, of the Organic Law of Harmonization of the Autonomic Process (LOAPA). ==See also==