In Catalonia, a high stakes vote for Spain PM, Puigdemont

Socialists aim to win Catalonia elections, challenging separatists led by Puigdemont, in a high-stakes political battle.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists hope to seize power in Spain's Catalonia region in elections Sunday, to prove its appeasement strategy has more appeal than the separatist agenda of Carles Puigdemont.

This wealthy northeastern region of some eight million people votes Sunday to elect deputies to its 135-seat regional parliament.

Opinion polls suggest Mr. Sanchez's Socialists are well ahead of Puigdemont's hardline separatist JxCat and its rival ERC, led by current regional leader Pere Aragones.

Mr. Puigdemont, 61, was Catalan leader at the time of the failed independence bid in October 2017 which sparked Spain's worst political crisis in decades.

Despite fleeing Spain to avoid prosecution, he has remained active in the region's politics, leading JxCat from Belgium. He is hoping his imminent return from exile under an amnesty bill soon to become law will boost his chances in the vote.

For Mr. Sanchez, seizing back power from the separatists -- who have ruled the region for a decade -- would be a major victory in his efforts to turn the page on the crisis sparked by the secession bid.

It would also allow him to press the restart button on his latest term in office, which began in November.