Voters were asked whether they ratified a proposed Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia bill organizing the provinces of Barcelona, Gerona, Lérida and Tarragona into an autonomous community of Spain.

Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in the provinces of Barcelona, Gerona, Lérida and Tarragona and in full enjoyment of their civil and political rights.

[32][33] The parliamentary transaction of the proposed Statute bogged down for some months as a result of the dissolution of the Cortes Generales to hold the 1979 general election on 1 March and electoral campaigning for the subsequent local elections on 3 April,[34] and again after the governing Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) sought to amend the proposed text in June 1979 to limit the extent of devolution on a number of issues, such as language, justice, education, economy, electoral system and public order.

[43][44] President Josep Tarradellas was initially opposed to supporting the Statute, affirming that it had been drafted "by some gentlement from the [political] parties and by Prime Minister Suárez" and that it was "not an agreement, but a diktat";[41][53] however, pressure from several regional ministers led to Tarradellas reluctantly accepting that the Executive Council recommended a "Yes" vote for the text ahead of the referendum.

[56] The People's Alliance (AP) did not recommend any explicit choice for the Statute and gave freedom of vote to its supporters.

The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading choice's colour.

Do you approve of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia Bill?The referendum resulted in the Statute being ratified by a wide margin,[61][62] but the low turnout of 59.3%—partly attributed to bad weather during voting day[63]—and the perceived poor preparations on the referendum logistics from the Government of Catalonia were met with disappointment within the Catalan political class.

[75] In January 1980, seeking to "rationalize" the autonomic process of all future autonomous regions over concerns that all would attempt to achieve maximum devolution within a short timeframe,[76] the governing UCD officially would make public that it would not support the route of Article 151 for regions other than Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, instead suggesting the application of the "slow-track" route of Article 143,[77][78] which would eventually to the party's defeat in the Andalusian autonomy initiative referendum,[79] as well as to the signing of the first autonomic pacts between UCD and PSOE on 31 July 1981, would see the agreement for a joint calendar of devolution for the remaining regions.