General election in the Basque Autonomous Community 2016
The elections for the regional parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community took place on September 25, 2016. With her the deputies of the XI. Legislative period determined since the creation of the Autonomous Community after the end of the Franco dictatorship . The regional parliament for the 10th legislative period was elected on October 21, 2012 . The turnout was 62.26%, which is more than 3.5 percentage points lower than in 2012 (65.83%).
Compared to the last legislative period, the changes in the party system throughout Spain (Podemos as the new political force) resulted in significant changes in the political balance of power in the Basque Country as well.
Regional parties, candidacies and their political positions
The currently ruling party EAJ / PNV - Eusko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Partido Nacionalista Vasco is a Basque national party and ideologically conservative Christian. The EAJ / PNV advocates a greatly expanded autonomy and independence of the Basque Country. Since the end of the Franco dictatorship, it has always been the strongest party in parliamentary elections in the Basque Country and thus almost always provided the Prime Minister (lehendakari). The current Lehendakari is the party chairman Iñigo Urkullu .
The Euskal Herria Bildu (EH Bildu) is a party association to which the left-wing Basque national parties Eusko Alkartasuna, Sortu, Aralar and Alternatiba Eraikitzen belong. Just like the EAJ / PNV, EH Bildu is also committed to greatly expanding the autonomy and independence of the Basque Country.
The Partido Socialista de Euskadi-Euskadiko Ezkerra (PSE-EE) is the Basque socialist party and federated with the Spanish PSOE . As a left-wing unionist party, the PSE-EE advocates keeping the Basque Country in the Spanish state association.
The Partido Popular del País Vasco - Euskadiko Alderdi Popularra (PP) is part of the conservative People's Party of Spain and as such a strictly unionist party. The PP is in favor of the Basque Country remaining in the Spanish state association and is also pursuing an agenda that aims to dismantle autonomy rights in favor of the central government in Madrid.
The Elkarrekin Podemos coalition consists of the Basque arm of Podemos , the Basque branch of the United Left - Ezker Anitza and the small green party Equo . The coalition has only existed since August 11, 2016.
The small liberal party Ciudadanos (C's) pursues a business-friendly course aimed at fighting corruption and deregulation. The Ciudadanos also advocate a decidedly unionist course.
Conflict over the electoral exclusion of Arnaldo Otegi
Arnaldo Otegi was nominated by EH Bildu as the top candidate for the election, although he was banned from the Spanish judiciary until 2021 due to his prison sentence. As expected, the position as a candidate for the Lehendakari led to protests from part of the Basque parties and also from the Spanish state. Finally, on August 24, 2016 - just one month before the election - EH Bildu was asked to remove Arnoldo Otegi from the electoral list for the province of Gipuzkoa as the top candidate .
Electoral system
The regional parliament of the Basque Country in Vitoria has 75 members. These are elected in three constituencies (the provinces); 25 each in the constituency of Bizkaia , in the constituency of Gipuzkoa and in the constituency of Álava . In the D'Hondt procedure, mandates are assigned solely at the electoral district level.
Result
The official final result in detail:
| Parties | be right | Votes in% (change) 8 |
Seats (change) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EAJ / PNV | 397.664 | 37.65 | +3.01 | 28 | +1 |
| EH Bildu | 224.254 | 21.23 | −3.77 | 18th | −3 |
| Podemos | 156,671 | 14.83 | +14.83 | 11 | +11 |
| PSE-EE | 126.139 | 11.94 | −7.19 | 9 | −7 |
| PP | 107.357 | 10.16 | −1.57 | 9 | −1 |
| C's | 21,362 | 2.02 | +2.02 | - | - |
| Other | 22,559 | 2.17 | −9.50 | 0 | −1 |
| All in all | 100.00 | 75 | |||
Classification of the election result
The Basque nationalist EAJ / PNV will again be able to provide the Lehendakari as by far the strongest political force. Compared to the 2012 election, she was able to gain both votes and seats. The EAJ / PNV, however, is dependent on a coalition partner or a tolerance. The also Basque nationalist but left-wing party association EH Bildu lost four seats compared to the 2012 election, but was able to maintain its position as the largest opposition party. The exclusion of the top candidate Arnaldo Otegi, who was released from prison only a few months ago, from the election can be cited as one of the reasons for the poorer performance of EH Bildu. It can be assumed that many EH Bildu voters did not take part in the election or voted for Elkarrekin Podemos as a protest against this exclusion from the election.
The big winner of the election is the left-wing Elkarrekin Podemos coalition, which has overtaken the established unionist parties PSE-EE and PP from scratch and has become the third strongest political force in the Basque parliament in Vitoria. The Ciudadanos missed the goal they had set themselves to enter the Basque Parliament. The Basque socialists are the big losers for the second year running. They lost a substantial part of their electorate for the second time in a row, and the poor performance was directly blamed on Pedro Sánchez , then party leader of the PSOE . Less than a week after the election, and also because of the difficult government formation after the Spanish parliamentary elections in 2016, the ongoing power struggles in the party, Pedro Sánchez resigned as party leader on October 1, 2016.
The outcome of the elections in the Basque Country and the parliamentary elections in Galicia on the same day are expected to have an impact on the still unsuccessful formation of a government in Madrid and a possible end to the political crisis in Spain.
Individual evidence
- ^ Basque Electoral Commission: - ( Memento of September 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ); 26th September 2016
- ↑ EH Bildu: [1] ; 26th September 2016
- ↑ El Mundo: [2] ; August 12, 2016
- ↑ PressReader: [3] ; 22nd January 2016
- ↑ La Vanguardia: [4] ; August 24, 2016
- ^ Basque Electoral Commission: - ( Memento of September 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ); 26th September 2016
- ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung [5] ; October 2nd, 2016