European elections (1): the Basque Country

Europeans voted this Sunday, and so did Basques. The options and evolution of the vote were largely conditioned by state-wide parameters however.

In the Southern Basque Country, the two nationalist forces were very close, with slight advantage of some 6,500 votes for the leftist coalition EH Bildu over the conservative Basque Nationalist Party. 

The Spanish unionist twin party (PP, PSOE) collapsed, as happened in the the rest of the state. And, for similar reasons all-Spain Leftist forces United Left and Podemos (We Can, a new "indignados" party) gained many votes.

Vote evolution in the Southern Basque Country
(screenshot from Naiz Info)

It is notorious that the collapse of the Spanish twin party in Navarre and Araba opens the gate for stronger independentist and socialist action, confirming previous opinion polls that suggested such a radical change in the political balance of Navarre, which nevertheless has still to materialize (elections are only expected for 2016).

In the North instead the twin party largely maintained positions, although the conservative UMP ceded many votes to the fascist FN, which got as much as 15% of the vote in Lapurdi and 11% in the two interior provinces.

The right-wing nationalist Basque Nationalist Party grew quite a bit, more than doubling its previous, quite modest achievements, while the list Europe Ecológie, which includes the left nationalists of the North, lost some votes. 

However, together, the Basque Nationalist Left, integrated in the The Greens - European Free Alliance comes as the first political force of Euskal Herria, followed at short distance by the Basque Nationalist Party, integrated in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

Overall it is evident and we must congratulate for the growth of the leftist forces and the clear decline of the mainline parties, although the rise of the National Front in the North is quite worrisome.

Data source: Naiz Info, Berria.