This Politician Quit His Job Became A Vlogger And Changed The Course Of An Election
Mariano Rajoy
More than half the seats in Catalonia ' s 135 - seat parliament will be occupied by pro - independence parties .  Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ' s own right - wing People ' s Party alone looks to lose 60 % of their seats  . But there ' s one person who most certainly won ' t be sitting in one of those seats   even though — thanks to a YouTube video that ’  s  been viewed almost a million times —  he  most likely did more than a little to help Thursday ' s overwhelming pro - independence win . “ The situation on Oct . 1 changed everything  ” Albano Dante Fachin told BuzzFeed News as  he  cleaned out  his  office inside Catalonia ’ s parliament building on Thursday night . Oct . 1 was the day Catalonia held a referendum on whether to separate from Spain   a move the Spanish government had tried desperately to prevent . Police and other armed forces were sent into the region to try to keep people from the polls   but Catalan leaders still declared a victory for the independence movement . After the vote   the Spanish senate triggered Article 155 of the country ’ s constitution   which stripped the region of its autonomy . Thursday night ’ s snap election was called by Rajoy after he used his new authority to dissolve the Catalan parliament and imprison eight politicians . Catalan President Carles Puigdemont fled to Brussels   where he has been campaigning via livestream and social media . It ’ s been a hectic election full of vicious identity politics   disorienting misinformation   and increasing paranoia among Catalans about Spanish governmental overreach . Seven major parties were vying for seats on Thursday . But for most voters   instead of thinking of things in terms of right and left   it was a decision between a pro - Catalan independence voting bloc and a rival bloc of parties that have campaigned on Catalonia remaining a part of Spain . For Catalans   it came down to a race between the left - wing progressive party Esquerra Republicana on the “ independentista ” side and economic liberal party Ciudadanos on the unionist   a victory for either deciding the region ’ s future relationship with Madrid . There was one party   though   that tried to stay out of the independence debate . Podemos   a left - wing anti - corruption party that was founded in 2014 out of Spain ’ s Occupy Wall Street equivalent   resisted choosing a side . But thanks to Fachin   its now - former general secretary   it ended up having one of the biggest impacts on this week ’ s vote . Fachin shocked Catalans last week after he announced via YouTube video that he was resigning from Podemos and voting for a pro - independence party . The video has currently been watched over 800   000 times and   according to Spanish media   it ’ s the most watched video of the election . His decision to vote for an independence party to protest Spain ’ s crackdown on the region   and not because he agreed with the results of the Catalan referendum   became a lightning rod on social media .
More than half the seats in Catalonia ' s 135 - seat parliament will be occupied by pro - independence parties .  [TGT] looks to lose 60 % of [TGT] seats  . But there ' s one person who most certainly won ' t be sitting in one of those seats   even though — thanks to a YouTube video that ’  s  been viewed almost a million times —  he  most likely did more than a little to help Thursday ' s overwhelming pro - independence win . “ The situation on Oct . 1 changed everything  ” Albano Dante Fachin told BuzzFeed News as  he  cleaned out  his  office inside Catalonia ’ s parliament building on Thursday night . Oct . 1 was the day Catalonia held a referendum on whether to separate from Spain   a move the Spanish government had tried desperately to prevent . Police and other armed forces were sent into the region to try to keep people from the polls   but Catalan leaders still declared a victory for the independence movement . After the vote   the Spanish senate triggered Article 155 of the country ’ s constitution   which stripped the region of its autonomy . Thursday night ’ s snap election was called by Rajoy after he used his new authority to dissolve the Catalan parliament and imprison eight politicians . Catalan President Carles Puigdemont fled to Brussels   where he has been campaigning via livestream and social media . It ’ s been a hectic election full of vicious identity politics   disorienting misinformation   and increasing paranoia among Catalans about Spanish governmental overreach . Seven major parties were vying for seats on Thursday . But for most voters   instead of thinking of things in terms of right and left   it was a decision between a pro - Catalan independence voting bloc and a rival bloc of parties that have campaigned on Catalonia remaining a part of Spain . For Catalans   it came down to a race between the left - wing progressive party Esquerra Republicana on the “ independentista ” side and economic liberal party Ciudadanos on the unionist   a victory for either deciding the region ’ s future relationship with Madrid . There was one party   though   that tried to stay out of the independence debate . Podemos   a left - wing anti - corruption party that was founded in 2014 out of Spain ’ s Occupy Wall Street equivalent   resisted choosing a side . But thanks to Fachin   its now - former general secretary   it ended up having one of the biggest impacts on this week ’ s vote . Fachin shocked Catalans last week after he announced via YouTube video that he was resigning from Podemos and voting for a pro - independence party . The video has currently been watched over 800   000 times and   according to Spanish media   it ’ s the most watched video of the election . His decision to vote for an independence party to protest Spain ’ s crackdown on the region   and not because he agreed with the results of the Catalan referendum   became a lightning rod on social media .