Basque Country could get first pro-Spanish government

In the recent regional elections in the Basque Country, nationalist parties won the most votes, but failed to secure a majority in parliament. While the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and other smaller nationalist groups Eusko Alkartasuna, Aralar and Ezker Batua won 37 seats, the socialists, the conservative Popular Party, and the smaller Union, Progress and Democracy Party (UPD) together took 38, one more than their rivals. What is widely expected now is that the pro-Spanish parties will form an alliance, excluding the nationalists from power, and that the Basque representative of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) Patxi Lopez will become the new Lehendakari.

Though undoubtedly the will of the people and the outcome of a democratic election should always be respected, the question is, just how democratic was the election? It has been alleged that if the approximately 1000,000 null votes in favour of the two banned leftist pro-independence parties, Askatasuna and Democracy Three Million (D3M), had been taken into account, then the nationalists would have gained the majority.

Furthermore, with the moderate PNV no longer the ruling party in parliament, and the elections deemed by the left pro-independence to be undemocratic, some are concerned that this could now give ETA a justification to continue its military campaign and to claim itself to be a more powerful voice for the Basque struggle.

Nationalists face challenge from Socialists in regional elections

Voters in the Basque Country are going to the polls today, and for the first time the incumbent Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV) is facing a strong challenge from the Socialists.

The EAJ-PNV have ruled the region since Spain returned to democracy 30 years ago, but some analysts are now predicting substantial gains for the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).

The Socialists, whose candidate is Patxi Lopez, have been focusing their campaign on the economy, rather than issues of national identity. With Spain in recession, and recent polls indicating that Basques are more concerned about unemployment than sovereignty, this strategy could pay off.

Meanwhile, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, the leader of the EAJ-PNV and the current Lehendakari, has been portrayed by the Socialists as out of touch with real issues. However, Ibarretxe dismisses these claims and maintains that the Basque economy is faring considerably better than the rest of Spain.

In fact, incomes in the Basque Country are among some of the highest in Spain, while unemployment is significantly below the national average. Moreover, the region has yet to enter recession, unlike Spain, which some say is facing its greatest economic slump for half a century.

The polling stations will close at 20:00 GMT and the official results will be released four hours later.


Lehendakari - President of the Basque Regional Government

UN official condemns Spain’s Law of Political Parties

In response to a recent comment by Ava:

Martin Scheinin, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and basic civil liberties while countering terrorism, issued a report on 5 February 2009, which criticised Spain’s Law of Political Parties. The report remarks that the Law needs to be better clarified, because it could result in non-terrorist acts being regarded as terrorism. It warns that the Law could be interpreted to include any political party with had similar political objectives to those pursued by the armed group ETA, even if they only employed peaceful political means. In a democratic and fair society, the report states that any limitations on political participation must be exceptional and compatible with international standards of free speech. A few days later, two Basque left-wing nationalist parties, Democracy Three Million (D3M) and Askatasuna, were outlawed.

Not stopping there, Scheinin went on to condemn the use of incommunicado detention for suspected terrorists in Spain and recommended its complete eradication. Currently, Spanish law allows detainees to be held to up to thirteen days without their relatives being informed, and without access to their own lawyer, but instead are assigned a duty solicitor.

Following on from this, the UN official expressed his concern over the fact that reports of torture made by terrorist suspects do not always automatically lead to independent, impartial and thorough investigations.

Meanwile, Amnesty International has also criticised Spain’s use of incommunicado detention, in stating that it facilitates torture and ill-treatment. The organisation has documented many cases, but the incommunicado regime makes these allegations difficult to verify. One of the more well-known cases is that of Unai Romano. The Spanish government has denied that it uses torture.

Spanish court bans two parties from Basque elections (8/2/09)

The Spanish Supreme Court of Justice in conjunction with the Spanish government have banned two Basque nationalist parties, Democracy Three Million (D3M) and Askatasuna, for supposed links to the Basque separatist group ETA and the outlawed political party Batasuna. Batasuna was declared illegal in 2003, for alleged connections with ETA, and a similar fate was met by a number of Basque nationalist parties in the past, including Herri Batasuna (HB), PCTV and ANV. It is believed that such parties draw the support of around 10%-15% of Spain's Basque voters.

Baltasar Garzon, the judge presiding in this case, was also responsible for the shut down of Orain in 1998, a Basque firm behind the local newspaper Egin and the radio station Egin Irratia, as well as the imprisoning of a number of journalists who worked for the company. Later in 2003 he ordered the closure of the Basque language newspaper Egunkaria, for alleged links to ETA. This action was condemned by a number of prominent intellectuals including Noam Chomsky and Salman Rushdie.

Although the Spanish government feels that it needs to take a hard line with terrorism and its supporters, it is believed by many in the Basque country that these are just more attempts to suppress the culture, the language and the pro-independence movement of the Basque country.

The concern is that those 10%-15% of Basque voters will now be denied a legitimate political voice at the elections on 1 March 2009.