Given Catalonia is not a colony, post-Franco Spain has not committed gross human rights violations in the region, and Catalonia enjoys political inclusion at every level of government in Spain, it fails to meet the three circumstances of International Law which could have given them independence.

Opinion: Why right to independence will elude Catalans even after winning election

Thursday's regional election pits leaders of the wealthy northeastern region's separatist movement against candidates who want to stay part of a unified Spain.

Campaigns go silent ahead of knife-edge Catalan vote

'It would be good to start mending this fracture... through regional elections,' government spokesman Ignacio Mendez de Vigo told a news conference

Spain urges Catalan election to settle independence crisis