Latest polls forecast inconclusive result in Catalan vote

MADRID — The latest polls ahead of next week's Catalan election show an inconclusive result between candidates supporting and opposing independence, raising the likelihood of a prolonged political crisis for Spain and its region.

All polls published yesterday, the last day when Spain's electoral law allows surveying ahead of the Dec. 21 vote, predict parties in both camps to fall short of a majority in the regional parliament.

A Metroscopia poll for Spain's leading El Pais newspaper says pro-secessionist parties would get 63 of the 135 parliamentary seats, one to three more seats than the so-called "constitutionalist" parties, those that want to preserve Spain's territorial unity.

Neither camp would achieve the 68 majority of seats needed to rule, leaving a smaller left anti-establishment party with the key to the future Catalan governance.