Catalan election campaign ends in key vote for Spain

The tense election campaign for the Catalan election has come to an end, as voters prepare to go to the polls on Thursday in what could be a decisive vote for the region, Spain and Europe.

The campaign has been highly irregular, with separatist candidates running from behind bars in a Madrid prison or from Brussels. They face the serious charges of rebellion and sedition for declaring independence in the Catalan parliament in October, where they previously held a majority until Spain dismissed all the leaders.

Thursday's snap election was triggered by Spain's central government, which has taken over direct control of the rebellious northeastern region. Depending on the results of the vote and the actions of those elected, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy may return home rule to Catalonia.

The latest polls predict that the separatists will lose their majority, resulting in a hung parliament.

There are seven main parties running in the election. Three of them are separatist, ranging from the radical left to center-right wing. In the previous regional government, they all worked together to govern and hold an illegal referendum on independence, which was met with police violence.

"What's at play here is not who wins these elections, but whether or not our country will beat Rajoy," former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said via video conference on Tuesday.

Puigdemont, who fled Catalonia to Brussels to avoid prison after the recent political crisis and who is a candidate, told Catalan daily La Vanguardia that he would return to Catalonia if the voters rejected Spanish rule over Catalonia.

However, if he were to return he would likely automatically be arrested. His party is the second most popular separatist party after the left-wing Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).

Three other parties are unionists-with Ciudadanos significantly more popular in Catalonia than the regional Popular Party and the Socialist party. The regional left wing party, Podemos, is also in the running, and has said it would be interested in forming a progressive government that includes both separatists and unionists.

"We have the opportunity to beat the nationalists," said the leader of Ciudadanos, Ines Arrimadas, who has quickly risen in the polls. She is calling for a massive participation to "put an end to the nightmare that is the independence process".

The latest polls also predict turnout rates will be significantly higher than they have been in the past, as voters choose whether or not to put the Catalan independence project to rest or to provide renewed momentum to the fight for the Catalan Republic.