Madrid, April 21 (EFE).- The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the pro-independence party EH Bildu tied with 27 seats each in Sunday’s regional elections in the Basque country, where the Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE-EE) came third with 12 deputies.
With 98% of the votes counted, the PNV will need the support of the Socialists, who during the campaign expressed their willingness to support the nationalist Imanol Pradales as regional president. This will require a majority of 38 out of the 75 regional deputies.
The PNV who have historically governed the region, lost four seats in these elections, ahead of EH Bildu in votes, which saw a significant increase of six seats.
The conservative People’s Party got one more deputy than in the previous legislature, going from 6 to 7. The far-right Vox kept its single seat.
The electoral platform Sumar, registered as a political party under the “Unite Movement” to form coalitions with other leftist parties, managed to enter the regional Parliament with one representative.
However, the left-wing party Podemos Euskadi, failed to enter the chamber, losing the six seats it obtained in the 2020 elections.
Pilar Garrido, general secretary of Podemos Euskadi, acknowledged the poor results, stating they accept “this tough blow” as they believe their project is “very necessary for the future” of the region.
Close elections, a “plural” society
The close results will force the parties to negotiate within the next legislature and reflect the “plurality” of Basque society, as stressed by the nationalist candidate Imanol Pradales and socialist Eneko Andueza.
“Our people have proven to be plural,” highlighted Pradales, making it clear that “the ball” is in the PNV’s court, to whom the Basques have “given the key to the future of society” and for whom they will work “with all responsibility.”
Meanwhile, the Socialist Eneko Andueza celebrated his party’s increase from 10 to 12 seats and said this advantage will be “useful and essential in deciding the political future” of the Basque country.
EH Bildu achieved a historic result on Sunday, going from 21 to 27 seats in the regional Parliament.
Pello Otxandiano, EH Bildu’s candidate, stressed that these results indicate a “competition between two” parties, EH Bildu and the PNV, and that “today the sovereign left of Bildu is at the center of the political map.”
The independence leader celebrated the “best results of the sovereign left in all its electoral history” and anticipated that “the popular mandate” received on Sunday from voters “says that a leap” in “sovereignty” must be taken. EFE
msh/dgp
