Polls opened Sunday in an election in Catalonia dubbed the most important in Spain's recent history, with forecasts pointing to a win by separatists vowing to declare the region independent by 2017.

Polling stations opened under cloudy skies in Barcelona, where red and yellow-striped Catalan flags hung from buildings, with more than 5.5 million of Catalonia's 7.5 million inhabitants eligible to vote across the region.