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Search author name words: scorchio

how the basques voted & "not voted"

category international | politics / elections | news report author Monday April 18, 2005 11:59author by scorchio Report this post to the editors

its not a result that clarifies anything.

There is no clear majority, with 100% of votes counted,abstention has increased in all three provinces of the Basque Autonomous Communty.

Bizkaia 31%
Gipuzkoa 31.3%
Araba 30.2%
an average of 31% "non-voting" in contrast to 21% in the 2001 elections.

The parties:-

PNV 29 seats down 4 from 33.
PP 15 seats down 4 from 19
PSE-EE
(PSOE) 18 seats up 5 from 13.
EB 3 seats no change.
EHAK 9 seats (party was not formed in 2001)
Arala 1 seat no change.

number and % of votes-

PNV/EA -463,873 votes - 38.6% down from 42.7%
PP - 208,795 votes 17.3% down from 23.1%
PSE-EE
(PSOE) 272,429votes 22.6% up from 17.9%
EB 64,931 votes 5.4% down from 5.5%
EHAK 150,188 votes 12.5% (first election)
Aralar 28,001 votes 2.3%

What this means:-

The Lehandakari has lost his majority, and most probably his plan is stopped.
The combined seats of PSE-EE and PP [the pan-spanish front] are larger than the previous
"tripartite" government of the coalition of PNV/EA and EB.

The newly formed communist block which fielded candidates of the militant independence tradition has 12.5%, 9 seats and currently occupies "the kingmaker" position. EHAK has increased the largest share of votes which the illegal HB ever held and that "corner" of the parliament now has 9 as opposed to 7 previous seats. They will most probably continue to call for full independence for the region and the "basque nation without state" which stradles the pyrennes between France and Spain.

The PSE-EE (the basque equivalent of the PSOE) as the local version of the ruling central government are opposed to the PNV plan for increased independence have improved their share. On the grounds of unitary state socialism they oppose the seperation of one of the Spanish's states richest regions from the poorer south an argument they apply to Catalonia as well.

At first glance the results will be seen favourably therefore by the Zapatero government in Madrid.

The PP have seen their representation reduced, the party sits in Europe with the Irish PDs, and its "unionist-pan spanish nationalist vote" has reduced by almost 5% their confrontational unionist style can not be too easliy dismissed however and their further use of radical tactics in their incessant opposition to the independence movements who are thier "natural enemies".

Abstention has increased by 10% in all three provinces. The 3 provinces have very different political profiles. This could be true political abstention or just apathy or jolly good weather.

Information from the Basque Government on province by province and municipal counts 2005 and count 2001

http://www.elecciones.net/caste/listado/listado1_1.htm

Reacton from locals in english suggest that now a "3 way" process of dialogue must begin between the central Government, the centre right nationalists of the Lehandakari and the militant left (who have returned by loophope to the democratic process)-
http://www.berria.info/english/ikusi.php?id=1384

background to the vote with explanatory notes on the parties and their orientation.

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69431

Meanwhile 2500 people demonstrated in madrid of the falangist civil war tradition in opposition to any change of the "unitary nature" of Spain yesterday, only hours after the annual celebrations by left and republican groups in Madrid of the 73rd anniversary of the 2nd republic. Which goes to show that even in Madrid the old traditions live on and people can get really upset with each other.

see - http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69411

The reform of the Constitution is very much on the table in Spain, and not only effects the Basques, the Catalans also play a part, and other regions.
At heart are questions of economic contribution to the central budget, recognition of "nations" rather than regions, and so on.
The Catalan approach to constitutional reform has been very different all along, without a recent armed conflict problem, perhaps it could afford to develop differently. The reaction of the catalan independence party therefore is interesting, they have shared the task of governing Catalonia with the PSOE and marxist greens for two years now, and are constantly seeking a "pact" with the central madrid government. and their online newspapers dispatched people up north to have a chat with the nieghbours. They note that the EHAK party is now "kingmaker" but also muse that this is not really a cuase for celebration.
As I somewhat jokingly commented a few weeks ago, the militant basque independence tradition has been illegalised again and again throughout all its name changes for "ties to ETA". Those ties being financial, organisational, membership etc. Then a little commie party no-one had heard of, said "hey we'll get you round the ban - we've not ties to ETA vote for us". The joke was - "its a small commie party as commie parties go, sure you could fill a snug in a comfy pub and call it a commie party and no-one would have difficulty believing you".
Well now that little commie party has 9 seats in government and 150,188 votes, and the workers' supreme collective with the megaphone in the snug at the back of the comfy pub, must be thinking to itself, -
(who are we really - ¿now? didn't we always want new members?)

Related Link: http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69431
author by ezkerrapublication date Mon Apr 18, 2005 12:23author address author phone Report this post to the editors

First of all the combined vote of parties that favour a move towards greater self-determination and possibly independence is over 50% but by no means an overwhelming majority.

Second, the percentage of Basques who believe armed struggle is justified is at most 12%, the vote recieved by EHAK, and it should not be taken for granted that all those support armed struggle.

My own take on this is that hopefully it will decouple the struggle for self-determination from terrorism ( and lets not forget the Spanish State engaged in terrorism as well as ETA, ie targeting and killing civilians) and allow the Basque people as a whole to decide their future, free from intimidation from either armed groups or state repression.

author by -publication date Mon Apr 18, 2005 13:35author address author phone Report this post to the editors

in english translation from Spanish press-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4455361.stm

and from Basque TV-
http://www.eitb24.com/noticia_en.php?id=53944

author by Iñakipublication date Mon Apr 18, 2005 19:59author email ziberzum at hotmail dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

Just a comment:

ETA do NOT target civilians.In the few cases it happened ,the owners of Buidings (Or what ever) were advised hours before and they rejecteted to say any thing" to not spread panic"...Please.

As Northern Ireland with imperial England
.Franco was very eager and succesfull in bringuing inmigrants from
south-center Spain to Euskadi and Catalonia During 40 years for as heavier "Spanization" as possible.

So,still, A LOT of the voters in both countries are of the above (and their sons),
Spaniards

author by Ezkerrapublication date Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:44author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I dont want to get into a simplistic blame game but the facts are very clear: both ETA and the Spanish State have targeted and killed civilians in the past, although the level of violence has receeded in recent years. ETA has killed journalists and politicians, simply because they opposed ETA's aims or criticised ETA. This fact can be checked on Amnesty Internationals website, just print ETA in the search section.

Pretending that ETA have done no wrong only helps the unionists who tar all the Basques with a 'terrorist' brush and try to link the right of the Basque people to self-determination with 'terrorism'. Its the reverse image of the right-wingers who claim that the Spanish State from the highest level had nothing to do with GAL.

author by thinkthankerpublication date Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:46author address author phone Report this post to the editors

31 seats have gone to parties which call for economic and social policies on the left of the spectrum.
44 seats have gone to those of the centre and the right.
Leaving out "nationalism" and attitudes to "national questions" the electorate swung to the left.
Of those 31 seats, 13 are in what Irish people would understand as the "post-marxist/marxist left".
Now whereas they disagree on questions of culture, constitutional visions of state, they do agree on other important areas "in principle". Taken with the fact that abstention increased from a 21% average to 31% average, this is a sign of "unhappiness" with the economic and social effects of centre right and right wing government.
In the european model of political engagement, when "the left" is divided amongst itself so, on questions of "nationalism", there is always a risk of "going completely round the circle" (remembering that the left - right analogy is a poor one at best) and other localised concepts of social order emerge if a political solution is not forthcoming.
I refer to what the spanish would understand as the "proto falangist belief pattern", and the austrians would understand as the "neo-fascism of Haider", and older bavarians would have understood as "early nazi-ism".
This is the line we can not afford to cross in european political development. It is a line we will cross, if the parties of the right present xenophobic arguments to the less well-off in an attempt to win votes, if the parties of the centre favour authoritarian government and blind obeyance of laws which are unjust and if the parties of the left can't confidently present solutions to globalisation at the local level. It only takes a few more "weighty" characters on the chessboard at the "proto-falangist/ neo-fascist" side (suggesting non-syndicalist models of social assistance and authoritarian social values by promoting active opposition to democratically elected states) to tip the general social debate in that direction for the generation who yet don't have a vote and are happily toddling around at the moment worrying about their next plate of "papa".
Indeed the basque above who referred to the migration patterns in the peninsula of the 1950s- 1960s will remember that housing projects that concentrated those communities together and gave them a sense of loyalty to the state which they still carry. It is comparable to those communities who were re-located after WW2 in the larger european cities (such as London and the Nederlands) from the blitzed centres to the outskirts, re-housed, and still to this day voting on "exagerated nationalist / racist lines".
Unfortuanately because of more than forty years of sloppy use of language and political terminology, we are not properly prepared to name that particular "shift" for what it is. We've used up the words in un-thinking terms of abuse.

Which is the most worrying effect of all as seen on a pan-european basis, not just in the Basque, or Austria or the new member-states of the East.
For that at least, hopefully the parties in the Basque will move to political progress and solutions on non-partisan grounds in dealing with (as best they can in a globalised world) the problems facing their poor and their youngest.

I'll explore this further in the future, in a "sunday papers" article maybe next weekend, in the special "passover papyrus review edition". Hope the comment is welcome for the moment though.

author by mmspublication date Tue Apr 19, 2005 18:41author address author phone Report this post to the editors

it would be great to copy the article as well here or send me the link to read it! A Basque living in Ireland

author by Iñakipublication date Wed Apr 20, 2005 05:24author address author phone Report this post to the editors

If you believe blindly Every Thig Amnesty International says.

Quite a Attacks from ETA has been lead it know in advance .To avoid killing inocent
people.
The "Knowers" said nothing, so the more the civilian victims, the worst propaganda against ETA.

Of course there has been a small % of civilians victims but they were NOT the target.

author by Ezkerrapublication date Wed Apr 20, 2005 10:16author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This sort of thing smacks of fanatical football supporters who never admit their 'team' do any wrong!

I have no wish to lump all the blame or even the primary responsibility for violence on ETA, but facts are facts. Even if we exclude the 'colateral damage' victims who were allegedly killed when state forces failed to publicise advance warning, we are still left with civilian victims deliberately threatened, targeted or killed by ETA. These include journalists who have been critical of the organisation and local politicians who opposed ETA. If you persist in denying this I will quote chapter and verse.

Now the fact that some of these belonged to the PP or were opposed to self-determination does not give ETA the right to kill them, no more than I have the right to kill my local Fianna Fail councillor because he is a corrupt right wing hack.

Again, I repeat, I support the right of the Basque people to self-determination, I believe that those Spanish politicians who conducted a campaign of terror (through GAL) against Basque nationalists should be tried and punished but I do no support acts of terror against civilians anywhere, by anybody.

author by Iñakipublication date Thu Apr 21, 2005 06:45author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Is deeper than that. PERIOD

author by Ezkerrapublication date Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:45author address author phone Report this post to the editors

In my book killing civilians, regardless of who does the killing, is always wrong. Period.

author by kaixo!publication date Thu Apr 21, 2005 12:47author address author phone Report this post to the editors

the PP have decided to break their co-operation with the PSOE in the central Madrid parliament on the "anti-terrorist pact". In a very heated exchange in which one young PSOE deputy saw his chair broken, and called an opposing PP deputy a fascist (for which he had to apologise you can only legally call PP deputies fascists on the street, in print or internet).
The PP are calling for the illegalisation of EHAK, before their new members get examined by the police and the megaphone is shared. THeir basis for this is the idea that 160,000 people don't vote for little commie parties, and the Lehandakari's first phone call was to the leader of the illegalised ETA political wing, and not to the leader of the little commie party.

Pressie ZP has reminded everyone that it's his job to run the anti-terrorist apparata of the state, and the Lehendakari (in functions) still looks to form a government and has said this is "his generation's last chance for peace".

author by :-)publication date Fri May 06, 2005 12:02author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The results of the election left no clear winners. However the PSOE in the basque have yesterday confirmed their intent to lead the government coalition.
Thus depriving the acting lehandakari Juan José Ibarretxe of his job, and replacing him with their leader Patxi López. This means they have now opened formal discussion with all other parties.
The last weeks have seen the PNV talk to everyone else (except the PP) including the PHAK and the leadership of Batasuna who technically aren't in the parliament. It is now to be seen will PSE (PSOE in the Basque) also hold talks with EHAK and Batasuna.
Accordingly today the acting lehendakari went to Madrid to the Moncloa palace to meet Bambi himself pressie ZP.
http://www.lavanguardia.es/web/20050506/51183488534.html

Meanwhile, opinion polls in both the basque and spain indicate that telly viewers and newspaper readers are happy that peace stands more of a chance at the moment than before, and that there is less confrontation. They have also confirmed that they often skip through channels, and very rarely read the tv listings before hand planning in advance their night's viewing. They have also confirmed that they mostly think there are too many adverts on TV but not enough blockbuster movies.

author by iosafpublication date Wed Jun 22, 2005 18:00author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The parliament of the Basque region has debated today and is debating its Lehendakari for the next governmental period after the elections which took place April 17th 2005 [see article above]

In alphabetical order the two candidates are:
Juan José Ibarretxe or Patxi López.
Ibarretxe is lehendakari (taoiseach) in functions and leads the PNV, EA, EB formation.
Patxi López is the leader of the PSE-EE (psoe in basque) formation.

They have each spoken for 90 minutes.

Ibarratexe plans a table of political normalisation without exception. (he might get the 2 votes he needs from EHAK and there have been protests against his acceptance of that) he has called for the localisation of prisoners and an end to ETA violence.
http://www.estrelladigital.es/articulo.asp?sec=esp&name=ibarretxe&fech=22/06/2005

López has asked to be the lehendakari who brings peace to Euskadi and has said he will bring a consensual "statute" [of constitutional reform] before a referendum [citizen consultation] in his first year he has also called for an end to ETA violence.
http://www.estrelladigital.es/articulo.asp?sec=esp&name=lopez&fech=22/06/2005

When the results are through there will be an update. Though shot in 2003, [during the Aznar PP regime] the independent film documentary "Pelota vasca. La piel contra la piedra" / "Euskal pilota. Larrua harriaren kontra" / "The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone" is a "must see for anyone who wishes to see most of the debate, and the will for political normalisation.

The debates heard, we can not forget that the results of the elections were inconclusive. As many support either candidate, and thus is the need for concensus and consensuality expressed in democratic institutional form so that it may be normalised, for that is the responsibility of the political process and all political representatives.
It thus does not surprise me, or ought ye, that the deciding "wee vote" goes to Aintzane Ezenarro the only deputy of the Aralar party, founded by former members of ETA at its earlier stage, the pro-independence party [concentrated in one province bordering navarre] condemns consistently the violence of both sides and ETA in particular.

"normality" & the political process
"normality" & the political process

author by not wafflingpublication date Thu Jun 23, 2005 15:46author address author phone Report this post to the editors

He begins his next government with well wishes that peace and normality satisfy the need within the Basque people for change.
Bake = Paz = Paix = Peace
Comprehensive coverage of the horse-trading votes yesterday and today at link from basque news service berria on their english translation pages. Looking to the future!

Related Link: http://www.berria.info/english/ikusi.php?id=1553
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