The Latest: Voters queue to have their say in Catalonia
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The Latest on the regional elections in Catalonia (all times local):
10:30 a.m.
Voters are queuing at polling stations across Catalonia to choose lawmakers who will be tasked with electing a new regional government.
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Manuel Abella, a 64-year-old retiree, says he's voting for Ciutadans (Citizens) because he sees in the upstart pro-business party a fresh alternative to both the Catalan conservatives that have embraced independence and the old guard of unionist parties.
"I want unity," Abella said after voting in a school turned into polling station in central Barcelona. "People are divided. We are at the point that we can't talk politics. A nation's flag should be a symbol of pride, but here it is the opposite. Here people jeer the flag. We have a war of flags."
Also voting in downtown Barcelona, the city's mayor Ada Colau called for a high turnout to mark "a historic day to recover institutional normality in Catalonia."
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Colau's left-wing party, which favors more autonomy for Catalonia but not independence, is likely to hold the key to building a majority for a new government.
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9 a.m.
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Polls have opened across Catalonia in a hotly contested election aimed at breaking a bitter deadlock over the region's independence drive.
Voting began at 9 a.m. Thursday and the nearly 2,700 polling stations will remain open until 8 p.m. (1900 GMT).
The vote was called by Spain's central authorities after they seized control of the northeastern region in late October. It will be closely watched beyond the country's borders.
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Opinion polls have shown fugitive and jailed separatist candidates neck-and-neck in opinion polls with unionists, who claim to be in the best position to return Catalonia to stability and growth.
With a record turnout expected, the more than one-fifth who are undecided among the 5.5 million eligible voters could shift the election outcome.