Brazilians in the south asked to vote on secession

Voters in the south of Brazil have been asked in an informal vote whether they want to be part of a new country.

The referendum was organised a week after a similar vote in Catalonia by a secessionist movement called "The South Is My Country." The movement said it set up polls in more than 1,000 municipalities across the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Paraná - which together have 30 million of Brazil's 208 million people and one-sixth of its economy.

The group's leader, Celso Deucher, says he hopes to gather three million votes.

At polling stations in Paraná state, voters told local media they were disillusioned with the federal government and a giant corruption scandal that has seen dozens of politicians and members of the business elite jailed or indicted.

Others complained that the south of Brazil saw little return from taxation which mostly benefitted the poorer northern regions of the country who have bigger voting rights than the south.

The south of Brazil has expressed secessionist tendencies before, ever since Italy's Giuseppe Garibaldi helped it achieve a short-lived semi-independence in 1836. Last year a similar vote in October 2016 organised by the same group gathered 617,500 votes; over 95% of voters in the three states said they were in favour of separation.

Few Brazilians believe the separatist movement will succeed, not least because it is forbidden by the constitution.

At: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41541063