FORMER Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has called for talks with the Spanish prime minster following the spectacular regional election result on Thursday.

The people of Catalonia delivered a pro-independence majority after Mariano Rajoy’s gamble backfired.

A pro-independence bloc – made up of Junts per Catalunya (JuntsxCat), led by Puigdemont, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), and the Candidatura d’Unitat Popular (CUP) – secured 70 of the 135 seats in the Generalitat de Catalunya.

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A record turnout of around 83 per cent saw those parties combined return a majority of two, down two from the 72 seats secured at the 2015 regional election.

Despite the largest party being Ciudadanos, with 25 per cent of the vote, the unionist bloc of parties failed to gain an overall majority, leaving the door open for the pro-independence parties to form a coalition.

The real losers of the night were Mariano Rajoy’s Partido Popular, who saw their support fall dramatically – winning just three seats, down four from 2015.

Puigdemont, who is still facing charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds and who would likely still face arrest if he were to return to the country, called for talks with Rajoy and hailed the result as “a new political step” away from repression.

He added that the way forward should be “marked by political solutions, not by repression”.

Speaking from Brussels, where he remains in self-imposed exile, the ousted leader, said: “More than two million people are in favour of Catalonia’s independence.

“Recognising reality is vital if we are to find a solution.”

He added that a return to Catalonia could be on the cards if he was elected as regional leader, though said he remained unclear of the legal protections he would be afforded.

Speaking for the first time since the results were announced, Rajoy responded, though not directed to Puigdemont, that he is ready for “open and realistic” dialogue with any new government that is formed.

During his speech, Rajoy consistently stressed the importance of the rule of law going forward.

“First I want to say that this election has been celebrated within the law, as it should be, once we restored legality,” he said.

“I want to highlight that the election day took place with total normality and everyone could go to vote in a normal way.

“The results are already known, I don’t have to repeat them to you, but I do want to congratulate Ines Arrimadas and her [Cuitadans] party, who I have already spoken to this morning.

“They have won the election in seats and in number and votes.

“The negative side of this election, according to my view, is that we haven’t had enough seats to do what we wanted to get,” he added, in reference to the unionist parties collectively falling short of a majority.

He noted that support for all pro-independence parties was down from the previous regional election, though not as much as he would have liked.

“What we also see from the results is that no-one can talk in the name of Catalonia if they don’t take into account the whole of Catalonia,” continued Rajoy.

“Catalonia is not a homogenous region, it is a plural region. We should all look at this plurality as something positive.”

He blamed “radicalisation” for causing fractures in society: “It is a deep, deep wound and this will take time to heal.

“This should be our first priority as politicians and necessary reconciliation needs to be based on law and respect of all our rights. Those of the majorities and the minorities.”

He ended by saying the election result marked a new democratic start in the region and he trusted that future negotiations would be based on dialogue, co-operation and plurality.

The Brexit co-ordinator for the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, came under fire for his tweet which also congratulated the unionist Ciudadanos party.

“Congratulations to @InesArrimadas and @CiudadanosCs who became the biggest party in #Catalonia,” he wrote. “The hardest challenge remains: finding a common way to heal the Catalan society.”

The pro-independence parties in the region will now feel they have a mandate to push ahead with leaving Spain, but first they must form a coalition.

Formal negotiations will begin in January but it is believed talks have already begun behind the scenes.

Despite the parties choosing not to run on a joint pro-independence ticket, as they did in the 2015 election, Puigdemont’s JuntsxCat is likely to attempt to form a coalition with the ERC, the second-largest pro-independence party.

This will be under the unusual scenario of having one of the party leaders in exile, with the other in a Spanish prison – ERC president, and former vice-president to Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras was jailed following October’s independence referendum – and several other elected officials in similar predicaments.

One interesting facet, should a coalition be formed, is who will be nominated for president of the Catalan parliament. The doubt over the political future of the aforementioned group means that any future coalition will have to look elsewhere for a nominee.

The two parties are also at odds when it comes to how best to achieve independence, with the ERC favouring a slower, more diplomatic solution, unlike the unilateral declaration announced by Puigdemont, which set off a chain of events that has brought the region to where it is now.

Whatever happens, both parties will have to negotiate with the CUP, a party that some in the country characterise as far-left, if any coalition is to be agreed. The CUP caused a number of issues for Puigdemont during the previous parliament.

Direct rule from Madrid remains in place after Rajoy’s decision in late October to dissolve the Catalan parliament and invoke Article 155 of the Spanish constitution.