|
Electoral
Landscape in the Basque Territories
The
18 March 2001 French municipal elections had dramatic results
in Navarre's territories
in France. with Basque nationalists winning 12 percent of the
total vote in Behe-Nafarroa, Lapurdi and Zuberoa. The progressive
Abertzaleen Batasuna (AB) won a seat on the General Council
of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques department, as well as the mayorship
in the town of Hiriburu, both for the first time--in spite of
right-wing candidates who furiously worked behind the scenes
to try to scare away potential voters for Basque nationalist
groups by linking them to violence. The French socialists lost
two towns in the Basque territories, Ziburu and Angelu, trounced
by rightists who capitalized. In Hendaia, a united left slate
to victory holding the Socialist stronghold with AB candidates.
The most significant development in the municipal elections in residual
Navarre in 1999 was the radical Herri Batasuna/Euskal Herritarrok's
emergence in the former Basque state as a stronger political force.
The party held only three seats in Pamplona's local government prior
to to the elections: By winning six this time, they became the second
political force and displayed a remarkable capacity for turning a grassroots
focus on local issues into votes.
The
13 May 2001 legislative elections in Vascongadas (the Spanish Basque
territories of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa) was a bitterly fought campaign
that pitted the Popular Party (PP) of Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria
Aznar against their former ally the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).
The
PNV and a smaller nationalist party, EA, together saw their seats rise
by six to 33, but were still short of a majority and in need of support
from other parties.
Herri
Batasuna/Euskal Herritarrok (currently known as Batasuna) saw its seats
halved to seven from the last election in 1998 while the Popular Party
gained only one seat after opinion polls had predicted much stronger
gains.
Herri
Batasuna/Euskal Herritarrok blamed their loss of votes on the "fear"
felt by voters that the Spanish parties might win office. But many voters
who once supported Basque independence feel now "confortable"
with the current status of these three Spanish Basque provinces and
support "more autonomy within Spain."
Aznar's
party spent much of its campaign accusing the ruling Basque Nationalist
Party of failing to use its wide powers to fight ETA and of cosying
up to the radicals after the PNV struck an alliance with Herri Batasuna/Euskal
Herritarrok in 1998, during an ETA ceasefire. ETA returned to its arm
campaign in December 1999, blaming the Spanish government for refusing
to discuss self-determination and also the PNV for breaking a pact with
ETA for self-determination and having left the so-called peace process
stalled.
After
the latest ETA ceasefire of 1998, Euskal Herritarrok/Herri Batasuna)
gave parliamentary support to the PNV, whose conservative legislation
raced through the regional parliament at the speed of light. Euskal
Herritarrok/Herri Batasuna Eusebio Lasa justified his party backing
the PNV Budget 2000 Law "based on the neoliberal model" in the name
of the Basque cause.
Herri
Batasuna/Euskal Herritarrok found that not only had they saw its percentage
of the popular vote plunge to about 10 percent, the lowest since Spain
re-established monarchy in the late 1970s, but their social, economic
and political agenda was virtually indistinguishable from the right-wing
Basque Nationalist Party for the first time ever.
Background
The
conflict with Spain has driven politics in Navarre
since the nation's infancy. While Basque nationalist struggles
over autonomy statute may have given way to conflicts on things
like fiscal privileges, the underlying issue has remained the
same. The Basque conflict is a conflict between nations--on
one side Navarre; Spain and France on the other.
In
most of Spain and France the political spectrum has been, generally,
bi-polar--right wing forces confronting left wing forces. In residual
Navarre and its truncated territories (Araba, Behe-Nafarroa, Bizkaia,
Gipuzkoa, Lapurdi and Zuberoa) the alignment is triangular. Basque nationalism
has had two traditional adversaries: the liberal/conservatives, supported
by the Basque oligarchy, and the socialists, supported mainly by immigrant
workers. Contemporary
Basque nationalism added a new symbol to the so-called Basque cause:
the socialism of the radical Basque nationalists.
The
political space in the Basque territories is characterized by the French
"left" and "right;" the Spanish "left"
and "right;" and Basque nationalism--the conservative and
the radical or "abertzale left" (patriotic left).
The national left in
the Basque territories in France is represented by the Socialist Party
(PSF) and the Communist Party (PCF); in residual Navarre and the Spanish
Basque provinces by the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the communist-led
United Left (IU). The national right in the Basque territories in France
is represented by the Gaullists, The Rally for the Republic (RPR), the
liberals, the Union for French Democracy (UDF), and the fascist National
Front (FN); in residual Navarre and the Spanish Basque territories by
the Popular Party (PP)--the heirs to dictator Franco.
The Basque nationalist
right is led by the so-called traditional Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)
and its rival Eusko Alkartasuna (EA). The Basque nationalist left is
represented by Abertzaleen Batasuna, Aralar, Batasuna, Batzarre, and
Zutik.
The national right and
the Basque nationalist right enjoy stranglehold on power in the Basque
territories. The Navarrese branch of Spain's Popular Party, the Unión
del Pueblo Navarro (UPN, Popular Party and Unity of Navarrese People),
is the ruling party in residual Navarre; the Basque Nationalist Party
governs in coalition with Eusko Alkartasuna the three Spanish Basque
provinces of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa--aka Vascongadas. In May 2001
the Popular Party (PP) took over from the Araba provincial government
of the PNV. RPR and UDF enjoy wide support in the Basque territories
in France.
The PVN and its offshoot
EA have little standing in residual Navarre, Behe-Nafarroa, Lapudi and
Zuberoa. Of all the Basque nationalist groups, only the radical Batasuna
have significant standing in residual Navarre--the largest of the Basque
territories.
Jose
Maria Aznar, the leader of the Popular Party (PP), became Spain's prime
minister in May 1996 thanks to the largest Catalan party, Convergéncia
i Unió (CiU), a handful of Canary Islanders, and a party in Valencia,
which gave him the majority he needed to win the investiture vote on
May 6.
Although Aznar did
not need the support of the PNV to win the investiture, the PNV agreed
to give him a more confortable cushion in parliament. The leader of
the PNV, Xabier Arzalluz, even went further than the leader of the CiU,
Mr. Jordi Pujol, and signed a formal agreement with Aznar. Some of the
PNV deal was about symbols: Aznar agreed to compensate Arzalluz's party
for property seized or destroyed by General Francisco Franco's government.
The agreement also gave the regional government of Araba, Bizkaia, and
Gipuzkoa, some extra tax advantages, more authority over their ports,
a bit more money for training schemes, and a vague commitment to consider
more devolution in the future.
|
