The 2015 regional election was the first to produce a majority for openly separatist parties. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted that Spain's constitution does not allow a region to secede. Spain's Basque Country unsuccessfully tried to get such a move approved in Parliament in 2008. Catalan president Artur Mas instead scheduled an independence referendum for 2014, which was downgraded to being a more informal ballot after further intervention by the Constitutional Court. The dispute remains unresolved, as of March 2015.