Definition: In this task, you will be presented with a passage and have to answer a question based on your understanding of the events inferred from the passage. Try to find the best answer that is most likely to fill in "_". Note that the URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
Input: (CNN) The former leader of Catalonia urged Madrid to enter political negotiations following a regional election that gave pro-independence parties a majority in the Catalan parliament. "We are a democratically mature country that has earned the right to become a republic of free men and women," said former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont. In a recorded address made from self-imposed exile in Brussels, Belgium, Puigdemont appealed to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to accept the election results. "The ballot boxes have spoken, democracy has spoken, everyone has been able to express themselves. What is Rajoy waiting for in order to accept the results?" Puigdemont said in a speech posted Saturday on social media.The former Catalan leader says Spain's PM should accept regional election resultsMariano Rajoy says he will call on Catalonia's Parliament to meet January 17 
 Question:Following _ lawmakers' declaration of independence, Madrid dismissed the entire Catalan government and Parliament and seized control of the region.

Catalonia