Nationalists, Socialist Party coalition to govern Basque Country

5 months ago 20

The moderate nationalist PNV party and the Basque Socialist Party (PSOE-EE) will repeat their current coalition government in the Basque Country after Sunday’s elections resulted in a tie between the PNV and the far-left EH-Bildu party.

The PSOE-EE gathered 12 seats and will be essential to forge a new “moderate” coalition with the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV), which won 27 seats in the regional Parliament, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

EH-Bildu also won 27 seats, but – as announced in the election campaign – the PSOE and PNV will return to government, having won 39 seats together, one seat more than the 38 needed for an absolute majority in the regional parliament of 75 deputies.

Despite the “technical tie” with the PNV, this is considered a “historic” result for EH-Bildu, as it came very close to beating the moderate nationalist formation, which has governed almost without interruption in the Basque Country since the 1980s.

Founded in 2012, EH Bildu is a coalition of pro-independence and nationalist Basque parties with six representatives in the Spanish parliament, led by former ETA member Arnaldo Otegi.

Based on the latest figures released on Sunday night, it is likely that the new head of government (lehendakari) will go to the PNV candidate, Imanol Pradales, Spanish public television RTVE reported.

EH-Bildu lends key parliamentary support to Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, as do the Catalan separatist parties Together for Catalonia (JxCat), led by former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, and Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), of the current Catalan president, Pere Aragonès.

The right-wing camp, formed by the Spanish People’s Party (Partido Popular/EPP), the main opposition force to the PSOE government in Madrid, won 7 seats, while the far-right VOX party, the third force in Madrid, won one seat.

The left-wing platform Sumar, the junior partner in Spain’s coalition government together with the PSOE, won one seat, while the left-wing party Podemos, a former member of Sumar with which it is at loggerheads, failed to enter the Basque parliament.

In the coming weeks, Spain will experience an electoral marathon, with regional elections in Catalonia on 12 May and European elections on 9 June.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)