The global pact between PNV and PSE allows these two formations to take a breath after their drop in votes on 28-M -especially clear in the case of the jeltzales-, and has given them the opportunity to maintain a good part of their municipal power. The effects of this alliance have begun to be seen from the first hour of the day of constitution of town halls, with two paradigmatic cases in which, however, both formations have also needed the support of the PP. The socialist Maider Etxebarria has been invested early in the morning as mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, snatching that possibility from EH Bildu, the list with the most votes in May, with the support of the PNV and PP. The same has happened in Durango, where the PNV will govern four years later, to the detriment of the Abertzale coalition, and after receiving the same support as in the Álava capital.
The PNV-PSOE pact will also operate in Bilbao and Donostia/San Sebastián, although in those cases Basque nationalists and socialists will not need the support of the PP and, basically, the alliance will allow the list with the most votes, that of the PNV, to govern comfortably. The same occurs in Barakaldo, Getxo, Leioa, Erandio, Santurtzi or Zarautz, where the jeltzales prevailed on 28-M. The agreement will also allow the Socialists to do the same in traditional strongholds in which they have been the first force: Irun, Eibar, Zumarraga, Lasarte or Ermua. In Portugalete, beyond the pact, the PSE had an absolute majority and the historic Mikel Torres, first mayor since 2008, has been re-elected.
The pact, therefore, has allowed the jeltzales and socialists to maintain the capitals of the Basque Autonomous Community and some of the most populated municipalities in Euskadi, in some cases ensuring governability after having been the first force and, in others, closing the way to EH Bildu. It is one of the readings that this day of constitution of city councils has left, with two far-reaching political derivatives.
The first, in terms of Spanish politics. The pact allows the Socialists to clearly show that their natural ally in the Basque Country is the PNV and not EH Bildu, a relevant point looking at the July 23 elections and taking into account that one of the focuses is the alliances of the PP with Vox. In Navarre, the same is happening in relation to the PSN’s commitment to the Geroa Bai Basque coalition and to the detriment of EH Bildu. The Basque socialists, moreover, are gaining muscle and will be able to govern a Basque capital 12 years later.
The second derivative of scope has to do with Basque politics. The PNV and the PSOE are needing the support of the PP in some relevant squares, something that will also happen with a view to forming a government in the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council (EH Bildu was also the force with the most votes there). This position can take its toll on the PNV, which already suffered an abstention from punishment on May 28.
The most eloquent image of this toll, very problematic for the PNV, is that of former minister Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, today an adviser to Ayuso, accompanying the only PP councilor in Durango (municipality of 30,000 inhabitants; 100,000 in the Duranguesado region as a whole). ) and boasting of having contributed to wresting the mayoralty from EH Bildu, to give it to the PNV. In total, the PP has given three mayors to the jeltzales (Durango, Zigoitia and Kuartango) and one to the PSOE (Vitoria-Gasteiz).
The Basque PP, although it rose slightly last 28-M, continues on its electoral ground and with hardly any municipal power (it will govern two municipalities in the Rioja Alavesa; the largest of them, Labastida, with 1,500 inhabitants), but the popular ones will squeeze politics and its role in towns such as Vitoria-Gasteiz or Durango in the media. They will, yes, looking south of the Ebro and 23-J.
This Saturday, however, there is another focus of interest beyond the capitals, and it has to do with what is happening in most medium-sized towns. There, in most cases, EH Bildu is asserting its good results on May 28, leaving no chance of operating the PNV-PSE pact. Despite the setbacks in Vitoria-Gasteiz or Durango, which arrived early in the morning, the Abertzale coalition reached its record for mayors this Saturday.
In many of these towns, EH Bildu will govern with an absolute majority; This is the case of Tolosa, Bergara, Zumaia, Hernani, Lekeitio, Ondarroa or Agurain. While in Arrasate/Mondragón, Pasaia, Andoain, Bermeo, Sopela, Ordizia or Llodio it has taken over the command thanks to agreements with Elkarrekin-Podemos or with independent municipal formations.
The day, however, has also left some bizarre maneuvers, which can only be understood within the struggle between the PNV and EH Bildu. In Gernika, a town of great symbolic weight, the PNV has invested Jose María Gorroño, who has been mayor for the last 16 years, who ran with an independent platform, although on the condition that he resign in a month and leave the baton of I command his brother, number two on the same platform. In this way, the jeltzales managed to prevent EH Bildu from governing the provincial town and, at the same time, prevented a candidate whom they had harshly criticized from being mayor. The long faces of the councilors of the three groups with municipal representation, however, were eloquent that the maneuver is, to say the least, difficult to explain.
In Labastida, finally, the PNV candidate resigned throughout the week, since the party leadership in Álava had urged him not to present his candidacy, leaving the PP to govern. The rest of the jeltzal councilors have complied with the order this Saturday, although they have disassociated themselves from the party, since their option was for their party to govern with the already announced support of EH Bildu.
In any case, beyond these situations, the day leaves a panorama that obeys two great logics.
The PNV and PSE will continue to govern in the most important and most populous municipalities, thanks to the global pact they maintain. EH Bildu, meanwhile, gains municipal power, especially in medium-sized towns, and will be able to use that understanding between Basque nationalists, socialists and popular people politically. The struggle between Basque nationalists and independentistas intensifies after this day of constitution of city councils.
