“This is just a reinforcement of our mandate for the Catalan republic,” said Judit Ros Domingo, a political scientist based in Barcelona who specialises in international relations.

Speaking to The National in the wake of Thursday’s election result, which saw the pro-independence parties secure a majority in the Catalan parliament, she said that she was satisfied with the result but acknowledged that there was still work to do.

“We all suffered a lot for the last month, waiting for this date — even though it was imposed on us,” she said. “It was a very strange day for us, usually it is on a Saturday or a Sunday, we had never had a Thursday before.

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"I think according to political behaviour patterns, voting on a working day somehow does not benefit the polling level, the number of votes in general.”

Domingo, who previously worked as a political affairs officer for the EU, and in Kosovo with the UN, added that she believed holding the vote on a working day was a deliberate ploy by the government in Madrid to put some voters off.

It clearly backfired, as Catalans turned out in record numbers to vote for their preferred candidate.

Given how heavy-handed the police tactics were during the independence referendum of October 1, there was understandably trepidation among some voters as they headed to the polls this time.

Domingo noted that nerves took hold as she voted this time, as the memories of the previous ballot remained fresh.

“I think I was shaking for the first time in my life, and I’m a political scientist,” she said. “I had mixed feelings from an emotional perspective since the last time we voted. It was the same place but very different circumstances.

“There was an emotional side to it, but related to our rights not being respected on October 1.”

Negotiations will now get under way in order to form a coalition, though Domingo believes the forming of one is not in doubt, despite the unique situation regarding some elected officials — and despite the two largest pro-independence parties, Junts per Catalunya and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya — deciding not to run on a joint ticket this time.

“It looks like there’s a division,” she said, "but the circumstances are so special and unique so now we have to jiggle a lot to see exactly what the next step will be.”