Around 80 percent of the participants in Sunday’s informal vote in Catalonia preferred independence from Spain, reported Komsomolskaya Pravda daily of Russia.     

Such data were published after counting 88.44 percent of the ballots cast.  

The source also noted that 2.25 million of the 5.4 million of the eligible Catalonian voters took part in the non-binding ballot.

The Catalonians responded to two questions: “Do you want Catalonia to become a state?” and “If yes, do you want Catalonia to become an independent state?”   

A total 80.72 percent of the voters said “yes” to both questions, another 10.11 percent voted “yes” to the first and “no” to the second question, and 4.55 percent of the voters responded “no” to both queries.

Catalonia’s regional president Artur Mas hailed the non-binding poll “a great success” and a lesson in democracy.