MOSCOW, February 25 (RAPSI) – Spain’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the independence vote held in the province of Catalonia in November 2014 is illegal, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.

On November 9, Catalonians came to polling stations to express their opinion on proposed independence from Spain. Approximately 2.3 million of the 5.4 million qualified Catalonian voters turned out. Over 80 percent of them voted for sovereignty.

The Spanish government considers the non-binding referendum unconstitutional, and the Constitutional Court approved an injunction.

On February 25, Spain’s Constitutional Court heard several motions filed by the Spanish government to consider the legality of the documents that provided the grounds for the independence poll, namely the law on polls adopted by the Catalan parliament in September 2014 and a decree on the sovereignty poll signed by the Catalan president, Artur Mas.

The Constitutional Court voted unanimously that these documents run contrary to the Spanish constitution.

On September 29, 2014, the Constitutional Court heard complaints filed by the Spanish government against the decree on the November 9 sovereignty poll, signed by Artur Mas, and the law on polls. This delayed the sovereignty poll until the hearing in the Constitutional Court (for up to five months). The government of Catalan decided to go ahead with the poll.