July 5 (UPI) -- Catalonia's ruling coalition said it would quickly declare independence from Spain if a majority of voters support an Oct. 1 secession referendum.
The Together for Yes coalition and the Popular Unity Candidacy political party are leading efforts to hold the referendum in which citizens will face the question: "Do you want Catalonia to be an independent state in the form of a republic?"
The pro-independence institutions held an event on Tuesday to promote the referendum. The ruling coalition described policies it would enact under a free Catalonia, such as a new hunting law that would "guarantee a safe, sustainable and territorially balanced activity" as well as a road safety effort seeking to eradicate transit fatalities by 2020.
The ruling coalition also pitched apprenticeship work programs to combat unemployment.
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Carles Puigdemont, president of Generalitat of Catalonia, on Tuesday said the Oct. 1 referendum will be legally binding.
About 7.5 million people live in the Catalonia region, which has its own language and makes up a fifth of Spain's economic output. The calls for autonomy and independence have intensified amid Spain's financial crisis.
Barcelona, Catalonia's regional capital, has a population of about 1.6 million while Madrid, Spain's capital, has a population of about 3.1 million.
"The attacks on the Catalan language do not stop, and they will not stop if we do not use our vote to change things. On Oct. 1 we will vote," Puigdemont said in a statement on Wednesday.
In November 2015, Parliament members in Catalonia voted in favor of a resolution that would have led to secession. Spain's Constitutional Court annulled the vote two weeks later.
Officials in the Spanish government, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, have described the vote for Catalan independence as a coup d'etat disguised as a democratic process.
Former Catalan President Artur Mas was banned from holding public office for two years after holding a 2014 referendum on secession.
