The most evenly matched Basque electoral campaign, somewhat flat at the beginning and very inflamed in its final stretch, closed last night with the question of to what extent EH Bildu's position regarding the critical review of terrorism, the big issue in this decisive week, has been able to modify the trends that were emerging until last weekend. Last night the PNV launched a final call for the mobilization of Basque society, emphasizing the idea that "it is at stake whether the Basque Country continues to advance or regress", while the Abertzale coalition, accompanied by President Pere Aragonès, sought to show that the possibility of a peaceful change tomorrow is real.
The two nationalist formations, in the case of the PNV with the presence of Jordi Turull, agreed to say goodbye to the campaign in Bilbao, after a few hours earlier they had coincided in Vitoria, a key territory in the distribution of seats. The PSE also said goodbye to the campaign in the capital of Biscay, with the intervention of Pedro Sánchez; Sumar, with Minister Ernest Urtasun (in the absence of Yolanda Díaz); and Podemos, by Ione Belarra. The PP, with Alberto Núñez Feijóo accompanying its candidate, and Vox, in the presence of Santiago Abascal, opted for the capital of Alava.
The PNV candidate, Imanol Pradales, a rower in his youth, made a simile with the sport of trawlers to draw a situation of extreme equality between his formation and the nationalist coalition in which they need to “catch the last wave.” Certainly, the surveys that have been published have shown a very close relationship between the Jeltzales and EH Bildu, although the feeling a week ago was that the independence trawler was escaping, even showing its stern to the Jeltzales.
The big question a few hours before the elections is whether the PNV has managed to come back in recent days, once the electoral drive has increased and after the misstep of Pello Otxandiano, EH Bildu candidate, when he repeatedly avoided referring to ETA as a “terrorist”, a position highly conditioned by the game of balance in which his formation moves. “The future of Euskadi is at stake, and we do not want a black and white Euskadi that returns to the past,” Andoni Ortuzar, president of the PNV, harangued.
The nationalist coalition, meanwhile, appealed in its last act that a change led by Otxandiano is a certain possibility. Hence, he tried to dress up this option of pragmatism by bringing Aragonès, who intervened, or by showing messages on a giant screen such as that of Michelle O'Neill, prime minister of Northern Ireland, or Pepe Mujica, former president of Uruguay. Pello Otxandiano appealed to “hope” for “regeneration” and “a change of outlook for the long term and beyond partisan visions.”
The victory in seats tomorrow, that great symbolic victory, will be between the Jeltzales and the Abertzale coalition, although we will have to look further to see who can govern and how. And that's where the socialists come in, supported yesterday by Sánchez, who appealed to the PSE that usually appears in general elections (as a rule, much stronger than in Basque elections). “You have won the campaign. Faced with the resignation of some, you have contributed enthusiasm and desire. Faced with the hidden agenda of others, you have shown your face. And in the face of those who always insult, you have put solutions on the table,” said the socialist leader to give the final push to Eneko Andueza, his candidate.
The fate of the socialists, who aspire to grow in seats, even minimally, and above all to gain an absolute majority with the PNV, would be fatal news for the PP, which longs for a scenario in which it can once again be relevant in Euskadi. . It will be if the PNV and PSE do not add 38 seats, which is why De Andrés insisted on asking for the vote to “balance and moderate” Basque politics, appealing directly to the support of voters disappointed with the PNV. Feijóo, meanwhile, accused Jeltzales and socialists of “cynicism” for questioning EH Bildu's ethical position regarding terrorism and, at the same time, “governing together and always voting the same.”
Regarding the pulse in the space of the confederal left between Podemos and Sumar, two formations that are risking their parliamentary survival in the Basque Country, the purple formation insisted on its campaign leitmotif: “It seems very sad to me that in this campaign the PSE and Bildu are fighting to see who governs first with the PNV,” said Ione Belarra, accompanying her candidate for lehendakari, Miren Gorrotxategi. From Sumar, meanwhile, they took advantage of the fact that the polls give them a slight advantage over their former colleagues to appeal to the useful vote in the left-wing space. “We cannot lose a single vote. The vote for the confederal left in Euskadi has to be for Sumar,” said its candidate, Alba García.
