After the 2012 Catalan march for independence, in which more than 1.5 million citizens marched, the President of Catalonia, Artur Mas, called for new parliamentary elections on 25 November 2012 to elect a new parliament that would exercise the right of self-determination for Catalonia. The Parliament of Catalonia voted to hold a 'referendum or consultation' in the next four-year legislature in which the people of Catalonia would decide on becoming a new independent and sovereign state. The parliamentary decision was approved by a large majority of MPs: 84 voted for, 21 voted against, and 25 abstained.[65] On December 2013 the President of the Generalitat Artur Mas and the governing coalition agreed to set the referendum for self-determination on 9 November 2014.



