BARCELONA, November 10 (RIA Novosti) — Catalan President Artur Mas called the region's independence vote a "total success" Sunday.
"Considering the conditions in which we had to hold the vote, it has been a total success," Mas said at a news conference Sunday, adding that Catalonia "taught a lesson of democracy".
"We have considerably developed as a country and showed that we want to determine our future. One day we will be able to finally determine our future at the polling stations," Mas told journalists.
Almost 2 million people in the wealthy breakaway region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain voted on Sunday in the unofficial independence poll, according to the Catalan government.
Results of the vote are expected to come on Monday morning.
Spanish government sees the voting as illegal and tried to block it by filing complaints to the Constitutional Court. However Catalan President Artur Mas stated that Catalonia will carry out the consultation despite the central government's protests.
Earlier on Sunday the central government dismissed the vote as "useless" and unconstitutional.
