The Basque campaign began last night, but, more than talking about politics, in Euskadi they are focused on the Cup final, which Athletic is playing today against Mallorca. Andoni Ortuzar, the president of the PNV, who they say is a calm man except when he takes to the field for his team, also plays a lot. It was he who opted to change Iñigo Urkullu, who had been lehendakari of the Basque Government for twelve years.
Urkullu is the most valued politician in his land and has a high degree of approval for his management. But the rise of EH Bildu in the polls and the discontent of Basque society over issues such as health, education and housing have led the Euzkadi Buru Batzar to take a swing, which has risks. “Fewer ties and more t-shirts,” has been heard at PNV meetings, and its candidate Imanol Padrales, doctor in Sociology and Politics, is wearing a jacket but at least he does not wear a tie. Of course, he has studied in Deusto: you don’t play with certain things. In fact, he is the closest thing to Urkullu, although fourteen years younger and without a gray hair.
The polls show the PNV ahead, but just barely. EH Bildu is hot on their heels and dreams of the sorpasso. The PSE is going to have the key to the lehendakaritza. Pello Otxandiano, the Abertzale candidate, also has the air of a technocrat – he is a telecommunications engineer – although he studied at the University of Mondragón, private but without a social spirit and without any elitism. He was Otegi’s right-hand man, who promoted him as the head of the list. He boasts of being a pragmatist and benefits from Bildu’s ability to negotiate with the Government in Madrid. He garners a lot of young votes, to whom the world of ETA seems like something from another century, when the gang renounced weapons only twelve years ago. Rather than turning the page, this generation has slammed the book shut.
It is curious to see that independence is not going to be, not even remotely, in the campaign. Now it’s not time. And it would also complicate life unnecessarily for the PNV and Bildu. Basque nationalism is the opposite of Catalan. Nothing new. At least we must recognize that they know that the only way to win the elections is not by talking about the future, but by talking about the things of the present.
