The Catalan government has predicted that the number of people mobilised by today's referendum is around 3 million, El Nacional has learned from government sources. That doesn't mean the number of votes cast will be so high, as it includes people who couldn't vote for whatever reason, or whose votes were confiscated during the police operations by the Civil Guard and Spain's National Police.
The government's prediction is based on the calculation made by Europe Elects an organisation that collects election data from around the EU. As polling stations closed, they set turnout at 57.7%
Spain (Catalonia):
— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) 1 d’octubre de 2017
Independence Referendum
Turnout (preliminary): 57.7% #CatalanReferendum
The first predicted results are also starting to appear. A survey by Demòcrates de Catalunya (Democrats of Catalonia), based on the first 200 slips cast in 50 different polling stations around Catalonia, chosen in proportion to the size of each area, predicts a victory for 'yes' with 87% of votes. According to them, 'no' will get 9%, nulled ballots will be 3% and blank votes 1%.