Regional elections in Spain's Catalonia will be held on February 14, a court ruled on Friday, in a vote that could help settle a years-long separatist crisis. The government of the wealthy northeastern region had wanted the vote delayed for three months because of rising Covid-19 infections, but the Catalan high court overturned a decree suspending them until May 30. Campaigning got under way on Thursday -- despite the date of the vote remaining unclear -- as separatist parties that dominate the Catalan government battle Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists for control of the region's parliament. The vote will come more than three years after the region staged a failed bid for independence in 2017 which plunged Spain its worst political crisis in decades. A poor performance by the hardline separatists that head the ruling coalition would likely calm calls for another referendum or further moves to achieve independence. Catalan separatists have governed the region of 7.8 million people since 2015 but recent opinion polls suggest the Socialists -- who are fielding former health minister Salvador Illa as their top candidate -- could win. But taking office may not be so easy as separatist parties could join forces to cobble together a governing majority. The elections will decide the makeup of Catalonia's 135-seat regional parliament which is responsible for health and education policy. A Socialist victory in Catalonia would strengthen Sanchez's hand at a national level against his rightwing opponents who are fiercely critical of his handling of the separatists, said Oriol Bartomeus, a political scientist at Barcelona's Autonomous University. But it is far from clear how turnout will be affected by the pandemic and how that could impact the parties, said Ana Sofia Cardenal, a political scientist at the Open University of Catalonia. In locked-down Portugal, a record 60.6 percent abstained in a presidential election on Sunday. Catalan authorities have made it easier to vote by mail while the final hour of voting will be reserved for people who have tested positive for the virus or are in quarantine. dbh/hmw/dl/txw