The parliament in Spain's Catalonia region is set to meet for the first time Wednesday since the country's central government dissolved the body and ordered new elections in response to an independence referendum.
Pro-independence parties together have a narrow majority in the new body, but lawmakers will need to form a government and pick their leadership.
Ahead of Wednesday's session, two separatist parties reached an agreement to support former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont as a candidate to again take that role.
Puigdemont led the push for the referendum on Catalonia seceding from Spain, which was supported by the majority of people who voted. After the government in Madrid dissolved the parliament and suspended the region's autonomy, Puigdemont fled to Brussels. He faces arrest if he returns to Spain.
Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, says Puigdemont cannot act as Catalan president while in exile, and that if he is chosen then the suspension of Catalonia's autonomy will remain in effect.
自从西班牙政府对独立公投做出反应，解散了加泰罗尼亚议会并下令举行新选举以来，加泰罗尼亚地区的议会星期三第一次开会。
主张独立的各政党在新议会中占据微弱多数，但议会要组建政府，并选出议会领导人。
议会星期三开会之前，两个主张独立的政党达成协议，支持前加泰罗尼亚领导人普伊格蒙特（Carles Puigdemont）作为再次担任这个职务的候选人。
普伊格蒙特领导了推动脱离西班牙的独立公投运动。参加投票的选民中大多数人主张独立。马德里政府解散议会并暂时取消了加泰罗尼亚地区的自治之后，普伊格蒙特逃到布鲁塞尔。他如果返回西班牙会面临逮捕。
西班牙首相拉霍伊说，普伊格蒙特在流亡期间不能担任加泰罗尼亚领导人，如果他被再次选为领导人，那么暂停加泰罗尼亚自治的决定将继续有效。