Catalan separatist party will leave regional govt if election called: source

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont gives a speech at the Palau de la Generalitat, the regional government headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, October 21, 2017.Ruben Moreno Garcia/Generalitat de Catalunya/Handout via REUTERS

MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan pro-independence party ERC would leave the regional government if regional president Carles Puigdemont calls a snap election, a party source said on Thursday.

Puigdemont is set to call a snap regional election, according to political allies, a move that could help break a one-month deadlock between the Madrid government and separatists seeking a split from Spain.

"It is not justified. It is an explicit renouncement of the Oct. 1 mandate without any sort of compensation," the party source said.

(Reporting by Inmaculada Sanz; Writing by Angus Berwick; Editing by Julien Toyer; Editing by)