[Mb-civic] CBC News - MODERATE BASQUE NATIONALISTS WIN ELECTION

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MODERATE BASQUE NATIONALISTS WIN ELECTION
WebPosted Sun Apr 17 18:30:22 2005

VITORIA, Spain ---The ruling Basque nationalist party has won a regional
election that tested support for its plan to gain virtual independence
from Spain – but failed to capture an outright majority.

The Basque Interior Ministry said the Basque Nationalist Party, or PNV,
and its moderate ally captured just over 38 per cent of the vote, giving
the coalition 29 seats in the 75-member legislature.

That's down from 33 seats in the last election and far short of the 38
seats needed for majority rule.

The results mean that rule of the three-province region in northern Spain
will again be evenly divided between Basque nationalists who want
autonomy and Spaniards who want a continued union with Madrid.

Despite the setback, incumbent president Juan Jose Ibarretxe insisted his
coalition "has won the election."

"We have won the confidence of the Basque people," he told a rally at
party headquarters in Vitoria. "Tomorrow we must sit down with [Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez] Zapatero around a table" to discuss
the region's political future.

Ibarretxe was seeking a clear election victory to pressure Madrid over
his "free association" plan for autonomy, which was rejected by the
Spanish parliament.

The blueprint calls for the Basque region to have a separate court
system, its own representation in bodies such as the European Union and
the right to separate from Spain.

Ibarretxe had promised to hold a regional referendum on the plan if the
PNV won its eighth straight election.

Hardliners with ETA backing capture 9 seats

The biggest surprise in Sunday's election was the rise of the new
Communist Party of the Basque Lands, which won nine seats in the
parliament and could end up being the kingmaker.

The party was backed by the Batasuna party, which was banned for the
first time from taking part in the regional election because it's
considered to be the political wing of the armed separatist group ETA.

The ETA is considered a terrorist group by Spain and the European Union
and has been blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s.

Opinion polls had suggested the hardliner Communist Party would win four
seats at most, leading to forecasts that Ibarretxe's coalition could win
an absolute majority.

With a report from Agence France-Presse

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.