Catalonia's regional Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Friday (Oct 27) in favor of independence from Spain, taking the country's political crisis into uncharted territory.

The vote came as the Spanish Senate debated the Madrid government's unprecedented plans to seize control of the autonomous region in a bid to quash its independence bid, reports the CNN.

Lawmakers voted in secret in the Catalan Parliament chamber after a heated debate on a motion "to form the Catalan Republic as an independent and sovereign state."

The outcome: 70 votes in favor, 10 against and two blanks.

Opposition parties walked out of the chamber ahead of the vote.

The two parliamentary sessions were the culmination of a weeks-long standoff, which began on October 1 when Catalonia defied Madrid and held a banned referendum on independence, plunging Spain into its worst political crisis since the restoration of democracy in the 1970s.

Hopes for a resolution were dashed Thursday when Catalan President Carles Puigdemont backed away from a plan to call new elections himself, amid disagreement within his own party and pressure from opposing sides.

Pro-independence protesters gathered outside the Catalan Parliament on Friday cheered and waved the Catalan "Estelada" separatist flag as the result of the vote was announced.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged the Spanish Senate to approve his government's plans to dissolve the Catalan parliament, remove the region's elected leaders as soon as possible and hold new elections.

This would be done under a never-before-used provision of the country's constitution, Article 155.

BDST: 2010 HRS, OCT 27, 2017
AP