On Thursday, voters of Catalonia will say who they want to see in the stands of their regional parliament. Whatever the outcome of the elections, this will mean the end of an extremely tense period for the whole of Spain, writes the correspondent of the Swiss newspaper Le Temps Francois Musso.

From the beginning of December, the Catalans live in an unprecedentedly pre-election tension between two polarized camps that are not ashamed to resort to insults and vilification, the article says..

On the one hand, there are separatists who have not digested the authoritarian response of Madrid, who sent two public leaders to prison, five regional ministers and pushed the retired Catalan leader Carles Puigdemond to flee to Brussels in order to slip out of the justice networks. In their eyes, setting the region under supervision is worthy of the "Franco regime". On the other hand, "constitutionalists" who believe that the separatists are guilty that on September 7 and 8 they "violated the Spanish law" by approving a decision on a referendum that was banned on October 1, the author.

Carles Puigdemont belonging to the first camp, who is in Brussels, but decided to return to Barcelona in case of the victory of his supporters, spoke against the "totalitarian" state imprisoning "political prisoners". A representative of the second camp, Soraya Saens de Santamaria, acting president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, called the process (that is, the course of events that should result in the emergence of the Catalan Republic) "an absolute fake" and "mass deception," describes the correspondent.

During the pre-election rallies that take place near the headquarters of various political movements, violent squabbling, often filled with hatred, is regularly repeated in traditional media and social networks,.

In Catalonia itself and quite often in the rest of Spain public relations began to be violated. Families break down, relatives no longer talk to each other, friendships no longer discuss political issues.

"Everywhere there is tension, in the family, at work, in leisure," commented political scientist Bert Barbet. "And increasingly there is the effect of disunity: separatists and constitutionalists do not even listen to the arguments of the other side". According to a survey conducted by the daily newspaper El Periodico de Catalunya, 58.4% of the 7 million Catalans believe that the disputes over the separation caused serious damage to the joint life, the article says..

The escalation of cruelty is an expression of frustration in the separatist camp, the journalist believes..

"How can I and my loved ones remain calm?" Mark asks, a student of law from Tarragona. "Madrid does not give us a sigh, does not respect our rights, does not allow us to vote, and, in addition, imposes on us Article 155 - punitive weapons worthy of Franco! ".

Whatever the outcome of the elections, for the overwhelming majority of the Catalans they will become a welcome return to some normal state, sums up Musso.