The battle between the PNV and EH Bildu in the Basque Country has left the jeltzales touched, who see how their hegemony suffers while the abertzale coalition has achieved its best historical results. The PNV has clearly prevailed in Bilbao and, by very little, in Donostia/San Sebastián, but the nationalist coalition has taken Vitoria Gasteiz from them. In the regional elections, moreover, EH Bildu has prevailed with solvency in Gipuzkoa, while the PNV maintains Bizkaia, its great fishing ground for votes, and Álava, although it loses weight in this territory. The PSE, meanwhile, shows that it still has a lot to say in Basque politics and maintains the pulse in its traditional strongholds.
The sensations in Sabin Etxea, the PNV headquarters, are to a certain extent of defeat, something that has to do with expectations. The jeltzales, intractable at the electoral level in recent years, aspired, first of all, to make full in the Basque councils. EH Bildu has clearly prevailed in Gipuzkoa, has achieved its best historical results in Álava and has grown in Bizkaia. In the town halls of the capitals, the expectation of the PNV was also full of victories. The jeltzales have won in Bilbao, although far from the absolute majority that some polls had predicted. In San Sebastián they have prevailed over EH Bildu by a narrow margin and, finally, they have been the fourth force in Vitoria-Gasteiz, behind the Abertzale coalition, the PSE and the PP. Thirdly, the PNV attached great importance to municipalities of strategic or symbolic weight such as Durango, Tolosa, Gernika or Llodio, municipalities that have fallen on the side of EH Bildu.
The PNV, therefore, has not achieved its great objectives this Sunday. He has not been able to mobilize a large part of the voters in an election that he had sold as a struggle between his party and EH Bildu. The abstention has made a dent in the Jeltzal ranks, and in the coming weeks it will be seen what political strategy the reflection that the PNV has already announced translates into.
The other side of the monera has been EH Bildu, which has grown in practically all the Basque towns, with Vitoria-Gasteiz and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa as great electoral trophies. In Navarra, they have grown equally and, in Pamplona, they have placed themselves a few votes behind UPN, the first force. It remains to be seen if the post-electoral pacts allow the Abertzale coalition to govern in these and other places, although the results confirm that EH Bildu is clearly on the rise.
The PSE, for its part, has emerged strengthened from the appointment with the polls. The Socialists have managed to maintain themselves as the first force in fiefdoms such as Irun, Portugalete, Eibar or Lasarte. In addition, they have been second in Vitoria-Gasteiz, a few votes behind EH Bildu. That is to say, the PSE has managed to emerge unscathed from Basque elections that had been situated in a dynamic of struggle between the PNV and EH Bildu. The PP, finally, continues on its electoral ground, although it has managed to stop the bleeding of votes that has weighed on it in recent years and in Vitoria-Gasteiz it has managed to position itself as the third force, ahead of the PNV. Finally, Podemos continues to fall and suffers from the rise of EH Bildu.
The municipal and regional elections therefore represent a complete shock to the Basque political scene, and it will be necessary to see how they affect the pact strategies in Euskadi or how the PNV reacts to its first electoral setback in many years. The president of the Jelzale Executive, Andoni Ortuzar, has indicated after knowing the results that they will make a "reflection".
