BARCELONA: More than three months after regional elections, Catalonia’s two main separatist parties said Monday they had reached agreement on forming a ruling coalition, heading off the looming threat of another vote.

Although the wealthy northeastern region’s pro-independence parties boosted their showing in the February 14 elections, the main factions were unable to agree on a government due to deep disagreements over strategy. The pact between the leftist ERC and the hardline “Together for Catalonia” (JxC), which have ruled in a regional coalition since 2015, emerged ahead of a May 26 deadline for appointing a new regional leader. “We have managed to avoid a repeat election that nobody wanted and to reach a good agreement on forming a strong, unified government,” said ERC leader Pere Aragones, who will serve as president of the region of 7.8 million people.

“We are beginning a new stage with this agreement on a pro-independence government... in which we can again move forward towards a Catalan republic,” he told a news conference.

This time around, the coalition will be led by ERC as it won one more seat than JxC in the election in which the separatist parties secured 52 percent of the vote, handing them 74 of the parliament’s 135 seats.