Teacher:In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: MADRID — The regional government of Catalonia said Tuesday that it would go ahead with a straw poll on independence, scheduled for this Sunday, in seeming defiance of an order from Spain’s Constitutional Court to suspend the ballot. 
  
 The court’s ruling, which came earlier in the day, and the response from the Catalan government were the latest episodes in a two-year standoff between Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Artur Mas, the Catalan leader, over the status of the region, Spain’s economic powerhouse. 
  
 The tensions hit a peak in September when Mr. Mas signed a decree approving the Nov. 9 vote on whether to break from Spain, despite efforts by the central government to block it. 
  
 Mr. Mas remains under pressure within Catalonia to keep the breakaway plans on track, but he has also said that he would not hold a vote if it were deemed illegal and would provoke a constitutional crisis for Spain. ||||| Story highlights The court's decision is the second time the vote has been suspended 
  
 The Spanish government calls the referendum unconstitutional 
  
 Polls show Catalans want a chance to vote, but might not vote for independence 
  
 A controversial referendum on Catalonia's future as part of Spain has again been put on hold by a court, just days before the planned vote on Sunday. 
  
 Spain's Consitutional Court on Tuesday suspended -- for the second time since September -- a referendum on independence for Catalonia, the wealthy, restive region in northeast Spain whose capital is Barcelona. 
  
 The court said in a statement that it again suspended the referendum while it considers an appeal from the Spanish government that challenged the independence vote as "unconstitutional." 
  
 Hundreds of thousands of Catalans have demonstrated in recent years for an independence referendum, and they closely watched the recent independence vote in Scotland. Even after Scotland voted to remain a part of the United Kingdom, many Catalans said the key issue was being allowed to vote in Catalonia on independence. 
  
 But the Spanish government insists that the constitution does not permit just one of Spain's 17 regions, such as Catalonia, to unilaterally break away. 
  
 Catalonia represents about 20% of Spain's economy and already has broad home-rule powers, including its own parliament, police force and control over education and health. The region also has a long list of grievances with Madrid, including over taxation. 
  
 The first showdown came in September, after the Catalan regional parliament approved a law allowing referendums, and then a decree by the Catalan president set November 9 as the date. The Spanish government appealed and the Constitutional Court accepted that for study, effectively suspending the vote. 
  
 Next, the Catalan president said there would still be a referendum, but it would be less formal, so it would be permissible under the law. It would be called a "consultation," and would be conducted by volunteers at polling places, instead of the usual electoral officials. The court has now suspended that as well. 
  
 Yet preparations continue for holding some kind of vote on Sunday in Catalonia. Citizens groups which have pushed hard to hold the referendum, and which also favor independence, sent notifications on Tuesday to news media about where to pick up accreditations in Barcelona in order to follow the election results on Sunday night. 
  
 Polls indicate that a majority of Catalans want to have a chance to vote. Some polls show that less than a majority would vote for independence, given the chance. But a survey last week by the Catalan government's polling center predicted a very close fight, with 49.4% saying they would vote to break away from Spain. ||||| The Catalan government has vowed to push forward with a symbolic vote on independence on Sunday, in defiance of a court order and the central government in Madrid. 
  
 “We will continue with the participative process,” the Catalan government spokesperson Francesc Homs said. “And we’ll do it with all the consequences.” 
  
 Homs said 40,000 volunteers had been recruited to stage the vote. Two questions will be put to Catalans: whether Catalonia should be a state, and if so, whether it should be an independent state. 
  
 His statement came shortly after Spain’s constitutional court announced it had agreed to hear the central government’s challenge of the watered-down vote. It was the second time in as many months that the court has acted to halt a planned Catalan vote on secession. 
  
 Three weeks ago, after several attempts to hold a non-binding vote within the confines of the law, the Catalan leader Artur Mas announced that the vote would be held in a modified way in an attempt to skirt legal restrictions. Sunday’s vote will now be a mostly symbolic one, staffed by volunteers and in which voters will register on the spot, in the absence of a formal electoral roll. 
  
 Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has repeatedly said any vote would be illegal as Spain’s constitution prevents any region from unilaterally taking decisions that affect all Spaniards. 
  
 Homs said the Catalan government would challenge the central government’s stance in the supreme court, “for violating the right to participation and the freedom of expression”. Polls suggest that a majority of Catalonia’s 7.5 million residents want a say on independence, and about half would vote to break away from Spain. 
  
 Campaigners have enlisted the support of the Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, the Argentinian human rights campaigner, for a manifesto calling on the Spanish government to allow Catalans to vote. 
  
 Emilio Sáenz-Francés, a professor of history and international relations at Madrid’s Comillas Pontifical University, said that while the central government may have succeeded in watering down Sunday’s vote, it had done little to address the underlying grassroots movement pushing for independence. 
  
 “The real problem will start on 10 November,” he said, referring to the day after the vote. “You have a significant percentage of the population who feels that they were denied the right to vote. How do you manage this? How do you maintain the common project that is the nation of Spain? That’s the biggest challenge.” |||||
Student:
The back-and-forth over a Catalan independence vote continues: Yesterday Catalonia said it would move forward with a straw poll on Sunday despite opposition from Spain's Constitutional Court, the New York Times reports. The poll had already been downgraded to a "consultation" with voters, CNN reports; the court's latest order against the effort means it will be even less formal. Now it could be run by civic groups instead of the Catalan government, the Times notes. Some 40,000 volunteers are on board to administer the referendum, the Guardian reports. "We will continue with the participative process, and we'll do it with all the consequences," says a Catalan government spokesman. Yesterday the court announced that it would hear the Spanish government's challenge to the informal vote, and Sunday's poll will be largely "symbolic," the Guardian notes; the Times adds that it won't likely hold water internationally.