FILE PHOTO: Catalonia's regional President Pere Aragones looks on during a news conference at Palau de la Generalitat, following the arrest of former Catalan government head Carles Puigdemont in Sardinia on Thursday, in Barcelona, Spain, September 24, 2021. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalonia's pro-independence coalition government was on the verge of collapse on Friday after its junior member decided to abandon it, in the most significant crisis within the Spanish region's separatist movement in the past decade.
In an internal vote, 55.7% of members of the Junts party approved leaving the regional coalition government amid a dispute with the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya party which spearheads the administration, Junts said in a statement. Members' turnout was 79.1%
