On 26–27 October 2017, a debate over a possible declaration of independence was held in the Parliament of Catalonia,[34] simultaneous to the Spanish Senate debating the enforcement of direct rule in Catalonia through the invoking of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978.[35] At the end of the debate, the Catalan parliament voted in a secret ballot a unilateral declaration of independence which was backed 70–10, two MPs casting a blank ballot, with all MPs from Citizens, the Socialists' Party of Catalonia and the People's Party boycotting a vote considered illegal by the lawyers of the Parliament of Catalonia.[36][37]