The nationalist coalition EH Bildu responds to the call for elections on July 23 with a clear commitment to continuity. In the absence of the bases ratifying the proposal, Mertxe Aizpurua, Oskar Matute or Jon Iñarritu will once again integrate the coalition's plates for the Lower House and names such as Gorka Elejabarrieta or Idurre Bideguren will appear on the Senate lists.
On the plates of the Abertzale coalition for the constituencies of Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Álava and Navarra will be, in addition to those mentioned, the current deputies Bel Pozueta or Iñaki Ruiz de Pinedo. Obviously, the Abertzale coalition will prevent those convicted of terrorism on these lists, after the controversy in the last electoral campaign.
EH Bildu makes a positive assessment of his action in Madrid during the legislature that is now closing. The Abertzale coalition considers that its pragmatic and socially focused policy has been consolidated, to the point of having become one of the great showcases of its political action, at a time when the informative agenda of Basque politics has shifted, in part, to the Congress of Deputies.
The abertzale formation also considers that Matute, Iñarritu or Aizpurua have become some of its main assets and that the fact that they come from different political spaces (Ezker Batua-Izquierda Unida, in the case of the former; Aralar, in the case of of the second) helps them broaden their social base.
EH Bildu obtained its best historical results last Sunday, both in the Basque Country and in Navarra, and managed to surpass the PNV in important squares of Basque politics. The jeltzales, however, will be able to maintain very important shares of power thanks to the fact that they continue to be the leading force in the Basque Autonomous Community and their pact with the PSE.
The 23-J elections have a double aspect for the Abertzale coalition. On the one hand, they are looking for a second challenge to the PNV, this time in general elections and looking to the Basque elections in the spring of 2024. On the other, they want to see their pragmatic commitment ratified in Madrid and to see that their representation can be key to stop an eventual PP-Vox government.
The general coordinator of EH Bildu, Arnaldo Otegi, has indicated that they face the elections of 23-J as a "second round" of the municipal and regional elections, in order to consolidate the "spirit of change" that, from his point of view, , was displayed on May 28.
Otegi has pointed out that EH Bildu and EH Bai, their brand in Iparralde (French Basque Country) is "close to 392,000 votes in the country as a whole" in the last municipal and regional elections".
In this way, it has affected that EH Bildu has been the "first political force in these municipal elections and is the first municipalist force" in Euskadi and Navarra, for which reason the call for general elections catches them "prepared".
"What we intend to do is continue the work we have already done four years ago," he explained. "During the electoral campaign, I have said on occasion: some say what they are going to do and we say what we have done and what we plan to do in the future," she stated.
In addition, Otegi has valued that the deputies and senators of EH Bildu have reached "many agreements" with which "the people have come out winning". "I think it's a magnificent job, that people have been able to value and that they continue to value in a very positive way", he pointed out, to opine that, therefore, "it would make little sense for us to change or make big changes in the approach of the electoral lists. "When things are done well, changes are not usually produced", he has reflected. Otegi has stressed that EH Bildu "says what he does and does what he says":
"We are predictable in the best sense of the word and, therefore, we want to continue being predictable and decisive," he stated, adding that they hope that "these general elections will become a kind of second round of the municipal elections that will strengthen or consolidate that spirit of change that has taken place" in the electoral appointment of May 28.
Finally, Otegi pointed out that "there is no progressive government in the Spanish State without the support of the sovereignist left and there are no progressive policies in the Spanish State if the Basque sovereignist left is not in the agreements that allow these public policies to be made".
In his opinion, in the next general elections "the space of the pro-independence left, the space that allows political change", will be reconsolidated, with some deputies and senators who "allow calmly, calmly, but solidly, to consolidate public policies that allow change in national terms and in social terms.
