About 26,000 more votes, which represent almost one percentage point more of the total vote – up to 14.24% -, and two more seats for the PSE, which holds the key to governability and guarantees the stability of the Basque Executive with the GNP. All the strategic objectives set by Pedro Sánchez, therefore, were fulfilled in these elections in Euskadi, with the flags of “coexistence, progress and stability”. And the president of the central government and leader of the PSOE is strengthened, after the latest electoral scandals, to set the course for the momentous elections in Catalonia on May 12.
“Magnificent results”, celebrated last night from Ferraz the spokeswoman of the PSOE, Esther Peña, which will allow the electoral candidate and leader of the Basque Socialists, Eneko Andueza, to decide the new Basque government “even more strongly” . “Tomorrow it will be time to decide” with “responsibility”, said last night in Bilbao Andueza, who promised that his party “will once again live up to what the Basque citizens deserve”.
“We are very calm”, acknowledged Moncloa already in the final stretch of the Basque campaign. Sánchez had faced this new date with the polls, in the intense electoral cycle of this 2024, in order to achieve “re-editing the strategic alliance” with the PNB in ??Euskadi, and by extension the Congress of Deputies, where, all and that, EH Bildu is also an essential ally of the Spanish Government to keep the legislature afloat. “We are optimistic”, they stressed on Sunday night, in view of the first polls at the ballot box, on the main floor of the PSOE headquarters in Carrer Ferraz, where, in the absence of Sánchez – who followed the election day from la Moncloa, as is customary in regional elections, María Jesús Montero, Félix Bolaños, Santos Cerdán and Esther Peña, among other socialist leaders, met.
The socialists’ claim was that the scrutiny of the ballot boxes would allow them to re-edit the coalition government with the PNB in ??Euskadi, and if possible, that the new candidacy of Eneko Andueza would add some more seats to the ten that Idoia Mendía already got in 2020. One in Gipuzkoa and one more in Bizkaia. In Ferraz, they highlighted the “centrality” position of the Socialists in the Basque political scene, despite remaining in third position on the electoral podium and continuing far from the 25 seats they obtained in 2009, when Patxi López managed to become lehendakari thanks to to an agreement with the PP.
The night’s accelerated scrutineering and the last-minute seat dance finally confirmed the 12 seats for the Socialists, while the disputed battle between the PNB and EH Bildu was resolved in favor of the former. The re-issue of the Basque coalition government between the PNB and the PSE was guaranteed.
In addition to celebrating the best electoral results of the PSE since 2012, Esther Peña turned the spotlight towards the PP. “Alberto Núñez Feijóo has been wrong again: he announced a change in the political cycle that never came”. The fact that the percentage of the PP vote does not even reach double digits – 9.2% – keeps it, in his opinion, as a “residual” force in Euskadi, just like in Navarre and Catalonia. “Feijóo’s engine is stuck”, he warned.
Once the date with the ballot boxes in Euskadi has been passed, Sánchez is now heading towards the elections in Catalonia on May 12, which could have a direct impact on the course of the legislature in Spain. The stability of the mandate does not only depend on PNB and EH Bildu, but also Junts and Esquerra. Of all.
The President of the Central Government plans to attend the start of the PSC campaign in Sabadell on Thursday. And on Sunday, after the PSOE federal committee meeting on Saturday in Ferraz, he will return to lead another rally with Salvador Illa in the Barcelona metropolitan area.
