BARCELONA (Reuters) – Catalonia’s parliament elected on Friday left-wing separatist Pere Aragones as the new head of the government of the northeastern Spanish region, endorsing his moderate and dialogue-driven strategy to seek independence.
Aragones, from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya party, was backed by two other hard-line separatist parties, centre-right Junts and far-left CUP, receiving the support of 74 out of the 135 lawmakers three months after the region held an election.
He has agreed with Junts to form a coalition government. The pair have governed together Catalonia since 2016, but with Junts holding the presidency until now.
(Reporting by Joan Faus, editing by Inti Landauro)
