This Sunday, the PNV managed to ensure its continuity at the head of the Basque Government, predictably with the support of the socialist party, and that was its fundamental objective on election day. But the nationalists have received a serious warning from Basque society with the loss of four deputies and four percentage points.
The Basque nationalists have managed to remain the leading force with a tight result compared to their main competitor – they have scored almost 360,000 votes and Bildu 330,000 –, a result that shows that the hegemony of nationalism is no longer exclusively in the hands of the party that He has governed Euskadi in eleven of the twelve legislatures since the recovery of autonomy.
Last night Bildu obtained the same number of deputies as the PNV, a result hitherto unprecedented in the electoral history of the Basque Country.
Imanol Pradales, who took over from Iñigo Urkullu as candidate a few months before the elections were called, appeared exultantly this Sunday night at Sabin Etxea, the headquarters of the PNV, and gave thanks for this victory that “shows that “We are a plural society.”
Neither Pradales nor Andoni Ortuzar, the president of the Euzkadi Buru Batzar, who preceded him in the victory speech, referred to the losses suffered in yesterday’s election, probably overwhelmed by the relief that came with having avoided the Bildu surprise that the surveys announced. A single sentence from Ortuzar’s parliament seemed to recognize that something had happened: “We will know how to interpret the message that has been given to us.” Ortuzar, like Pradales, took for granted the formation of a “plural government” that, there is little doubt, will return to it made up of the jeltzales and the Socialist Party of Euskadi.
The socialist candidate Eneko Andueza has made it clear throughout the entire campaign that he was willing to reissue the coalition executive with the Basque nationalists, a pact that, in fact, has been guaranteeing governability in Euskadi since 2016.
Andueza appeared in the campaign with the slogan “Vote for the one who decides.” His result, with two more deputies than in 2020, and the poor scrutiny obtained by the PNV will only reinforce the position of strength of the socialists in the future executive chaired by Imanol Pradales.
It is also important to keep in mind that the system for electing the president in the Basque Parliament favors this solution given that in the second vote, whoever has the most votes wins the presidency. And the PNV has achieved that objective.
In any case, the link between nationalists and socialists in Euskadi will also translate into greater cohesion between the PSOE and the PNV in the difficult journey of the legislature in the Congress of Deputies.
But none of this should satisfy the PNV regarding the results obtained last night. There will be time to analyze whether the Euzkadi Buru Batzar, the leadership of the Basque nationalists, was correct in the decision to replace the one who has been lehendakari until the last legislatures, Iñigo Urkullu, with the young Imanol Pradales who has fought in this campaign. A change that tried to connect with the younger generations who seem not to have excessive interest in the PNV and opt for Bildu.
Last night’s results make it clear that the PNV needs to make a serious review of its strategy if, within four years, it wants to prevent the overtake from the nationalist left that this time has been left at the doors.
