President of my country... tough job, indeed!

Pasqual Maragall, my president, must be really having a bad time. His colleagues at power fom ERC (independentists), say they will foster their voters' "NO" at the referendum for our new "Estatut" (something like an autonoumous set of laws and rules to govern Catalonia). They claim the Estatut is short of power for Catalonia and still depends too much on Madrid. That leaves Maragall in a very uncomfortable position. Part of his ministers (those from ERC) will probably say NO in the referendum whereas he and his sidekicks (PSC, the socialists and IC, the ecosocialists) will ask for the voters' support with a YES. The spanish nationalist conservatives (PP) also stand for a NO, but for the opposite reasons of ERC. PP claims that too much autonomy will finally break Spain into pieces, trying to cause fear in the more moderate voters. This tug of war will probably benefit Convergència i Unió, the catalan conservative nationalist party who was in the government for 23 years. Wrapped in a patriotic flag, they ruled the country with a full right-wing bias. This present catalan government, made up of the three left-wing catalan parties, raised many people's hopes for a more equalitarian country. This conflict may cause the government's downfall and subsequently new elections will be held. That would mena that many projects would be held at a standstill or, depending on the next government, probably put off.