Barcelone - Catalonia's ruling nationalist party of Mr Jordi Pujol narrowly won the regional election yesterday, beating the Socialist opposition by four seats, according to the official results released early this morning. The Convergencia I Unio (CiU) party of incumbent regional president Pujol won 56 seats in the 135-seat regional assembly, despite winning fewer votes than their rivals.
The Socialist Party, led by Mr Pasqual Maragall, won 52 seats in the assembly with 37.88 per cent of the total votes, slightly more than the 37.68 per cent votes which the victorious nationalists garnered. The disparity in the seats-to-votes ration is due to the under-representation of more populous areas. No other party won more than 12 seats.