Basque election result fuels calls for independence vote

» Mark Moloney

‘It is time to start thinking as a people, as a nation. It is time to stop the orders from Madrid’

THE PRO-INDEPENDENCE ALLIANCE Euskal Herria Bildu has made massive gains in the Basque regional elections held on Sunday which have seen nationalists take two-thirds of the seats in the Basque Parliament.

In the first regional election since armed Basque separatist group ETA announced an end to its military campaign, the left-wing pro-independence alliance Bildu’s vote surged from 9.7% in 2009 to 25%, taking 21 of the parliament’s 75 seats.

The centre-right Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) topped the poll with 38.6% of the vote and 37 seats. The result means that  Basque nationalists now have a two-thirds majority in the autonomous region and it is expected this will fuel calls for a referendum on independence. The ruling conservative Popular Party of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy came in fourth with just ten seats.

Laura Mintegi, head of the Bildu coalition, told supporters:

“It is time to start thinking as a people, as a nation. It is time to stop the orders from Madrid.”

The result is a major blow to the Spanish Government which comes just weeks before elections in Catalonia where nationalists are also expected to do well.

The result means that the PNV must try and form a coalition with either Bildu, the Socialist Party or even a rainbow coalition with the Popular Party and the liberal UPD. PNV leader Inaki Urkullu did not say much about any coalition plans but told supporters at a post-election rally “a new era has started”.

Meanwhile, in Galicia, the home region of Pime Minister Rajoy, his Popular Party retained an overall majority with 41 seats in the 75-seat parliament. Socialists took 18 seats while Galician nationalists made gains, taking 16 seats.