Pello Otxandiano, doctor in Telecommunications Engineering and ideologue of the transformation of EH Bildu, is the bet of the Abertzale coalition for the elections to the Basque Parliament in the spring. The pro-independence formation has chosen to entrust its program director with the luck of the battle with the PNB, a profile that embodies the generational relief and that aims to transmit an image of solvency.
The news was made public yesterday by Arnaldo Otegi, general coordinator of the coalition, who announced two weeks ago that he would not be the candidate for lehendakari, although he would apply to continue leading the formation. In practice, the step taken by EH Bildu is to propose the name of 40-year-old Otxandiano to the grassroots, which will have to be ratified. In any case, no surprises are expected and it is certain that he will be the one chosen to fight with Imanol Pradales, candidate of the PNB, and also with Eneko Andueza (PSE), Javier de Andrés (PP) and, probably, Miren Gorrotxategi, pending that Podemos and Sumar decide the terms of a possible alliance.
The news caused some surprise, as it was speculated that Bildu would opt for a woman, as in 2012, 2016 and 2020. The coalition, however, pointed out that its main list leaders are women and that, “if one thing represents Otxandiano, it is the feminist commitment”. In addition, Bildu will seek a joint candidacy in which its proposals for the representation of the Basque Parliament and the presidency of this institution, which will be known very soon, and its territorial list leaders will have weight. There, obviously, the weight of the candidates will be more than expressive.
The characteristics of Otxandiano and the virtues that the coalition has wanted to emphasize are eloquent of what Bildu is looking for. The Biscayan politician represents, in the first place, the generational relief. Born in 1983 and the father of two daughters, he is 25 years younger than Otegi and is not weakened by the background of violence.
EH Bildu, likewise, has sought a profile that reflects intellectual solvency and management capacity. Otxandiano is not exactly a manager, but rather an ideologue. He has been key in the ideological modernization of the Abertzale coalition and has coordinated the reflections they have made on industrial policy, “ecosocial transition” and energy strategy. They aim to convey the image that, should he be elected, he would manage effectively.
From the coalition they emphasize that he did his doctorate between the University of Mondragón and Chalmers University in Gothenburg, and they stop at this point, not casually: “During this doctoral stay he had the opportunity to get to know the Nordic countries, their social and economic characteristics and their public policies”. It is a way of pointing out what his reference social model is and of claiming that, more than the revolutionary left, Otxandiano looks at Nordic social democracy, European environmentalism or Basque cooperativism.
From Bildu, finally, they do not forget to point out that it is a cradle. Descendant of a family greatly affected by the fascist bombing of Otxandio, his town, the engineer from Biscay grew up, as they point out, in “an environment very committed to the process of national and social construction of Euskal Herria”. Among “the echoes of the anti-Franco resistance”, the commitment to the Basque language and to the image of lehendakari Agirre in the living room of his grandmother’s house. A mention that is also not accidental.