Early Remarks on Catalonia

The Catalonian results are in. As we wait to see what government - if any - can be formed. Here are a few early impressions.
As readers must know, there were seven essential candidatures. Three from the Independents, three from the 'Constitutionalists', and Podemos in the middle, slightly unsure of its place.
The largest vote went to a Constitutionalist party - the Ciudadanos Party of Inés Arramides - with 37 seats. Second and third place went to the exiled Carles Puigdemont (it's hard to campaign when you are in another country) with  34 seats for his JxCat and the imprisoned-in-Madrid Oriol Junqueras - ERC (it's even harder to campaign when you are in a jail cell. Indeed, he has had his 'privileges' removed for sending out a political message to his wife over the phone). The ERC pulled 32 seats.
Fourth went to the PSOE candidate, who works under the PSC name with 17. Fifth went to Podemos with eight seats..
Sixth and seventh went to the two smallest parties, who, on collecting less than five seats must work from the 'Grupo Mixto' bench: the unaligned. These uneasy bedmates are the radical anarchist independent republicans CUP with four seats and the, er, slightly to the right Partido Popular (pictured), champion of the still-in-effect Articulo 155, with a 'disappointing' three seats. An 'absolute majority' is 68 seats. Between the three independents - uneasy bedmates indeed - there are seventy.
As things are decided - hopefully Junqueras and Puigdemont have lieutenants who can speak for them - we turn to Madrid, where the batacazo of the Partido Popular in the Catalonian elections has done Rajoy no favours at all.