The XI Legislature in Navarra began this Friday with the constitution of the Parliament of Navarra and the re-election of Unai Hualde, from Geroa Bai, as president of the Chamber. The act took place in a cordial atmosphere and without surprises, while the negotiations for the re-election of the socialist María Chivite as president of Navarra take a tedious pace that leads to a formation of the Executive in the month of August, once the elections of July 23 and the evident distorting effect that they generate.
Hualde has been elected with the 30 votes that add up to his formation -Geroa Bai-, the PSN, EH Bildu and Contigo Zurekin. UPN has presented its own candidate to preside over the chamber, Iñaki Iriarte, who has obtained the support of the 18 votes totaling UPN and the PP. The two Vox parliamentarians, who entered the Navarrese Parliament for the first time, have abstained.
In this way, the president of the Parliament of Navarra revalidates a position he held for the first time in 2019. Hualde has a degree in Law from the University of Deusto and has worked as a lawyer in the field of Public and Administrative Law. In addition, he was mayor of Alsasua between 2007 and 2011, and is the president of the PNV Executive in Navarra (Geroa Bai is a coalition of jeltzales and Geroa Socialverdes).
Before Hualde’s election, the 50 parliamentarians of a Chamber that, as usual in Navarra, reflects an exceptionally plural political panorama, with seven political formations: a PSN that maintains its strength and, by all accounts, he will preside over the old Kingdom again; a right divided into UPN, PP and Vox; the pro-independence left of EH Bildu, reinforced after the elections; the Basque parliamentarians from Geroa Bai; and the alternative left grouped around Contigo/Zurekin (Podemos, IU and Batzarre).
This plurality has been reflected in the age table, which has presided over the start of the session. The oldest parliamentarian Emilio Jiménez, from Vox, has been assisted, as secretaries, by Kevin Lucero (PSN) and Irati Jiménez (EH Bildu).
Emilio Jiménez himself, who greeted in Basque and Spanish, has sworn in the position “for Spain”, while the parliamentarian for Contigo/Zurekin Navarra Carlos Guzmán has promised “without renouncing the Third Spanish Republic and a communist horizon”.
The parliamentarians of EH Bildu have promised the position, “by legal imperative”, the same formula used by some elected officials from Geroa Bai, such as Uxue Barkos or Unai Hualde. Most of the parliamentarians of these formations have done so in Basque, although they have not been the only ones. The representative of UPN Iñaki Iriarte has also chosen to promise the position in the Basque language.
The constitution of the Parliament of Navarra precedes the formation of town halls in the foral community, which will be held tomorrow and which will have Pamplona as its main focus. There, the refusal of the PSN to support the EH Bildu candidate, the former mayor Joseba Asiron, opens the door to the investiture of the mayor of UPN, Cristina Ibarrola, as the most voted list, by a narrow margin with respect to the nationalist coalition. The same could happen in other relevant localities in the foral community such as Estella or Barañain. Among the main towns in the community, UPN also ensures that it governs in Tudela, where it achieved an absolute majority.
EH Bildu, meanwhile, makes sure to govern in Burlada, Tafalla, Berriozar, Ansoain, Villava or Baztan. Geroa Bai, for his part, will govern Zizur Mayor. Finally, the PSN, although it is the second party in Navarra, has a very difficult time governing a town with more than 10,000 inhabitants.
The scenario for the formation of the Government of Navarra is very different. The most probable hypothesis continues to be that of the revival of a progressive government chaired by the socialist María Chivite with the support of Geroa Bai and Contigo/Zurekin.
The Socialists, however, have to manage two fronts. On the one hand, they must negotiate a program and portfolio distribution with Geroa Bai and Contigo/Zurekin. Hualde’s election this Friday was also part of the negotiation. On the other, the PSN needs the abstention of EH Bildu. The Socialists, however, have refused to negotiate with the Abertzale coalition, upset by this veto and by the fact that it will not support them in town halls such as those of Pamplona, ??Estella or Barañain. In other words, the PSOE demands free support from the Abertzale formation, placing them in the position of supporting them or favoring a context from which UPN and PP can benefit.
Chivite’s investiture will clearly be postponed beyond July 23, an appointment that at this point conditions every step of the political formations.
