On Sunday there were elections in Galicia and the Basque country. In Galicia the conservatives regained control of a region they are used to dominating. In Euskadi the Basque Nationalist Party may find itself out of power for the first time since the creation of the autonomous region back in the late seventies. They were the most voted party again, but didn't win enough seats to form a government. The non-nationalist parties could form a majority. (These were the first elections in which the political wing of ETA was prohibited from participating, for some making the election a fraud, and for others, myself included, making them more democratically legitimate. Should you allow the participation of organizations whose strength is partially predicated on fear, intimidation, and outright violence?) What would be unthinkable anywhere else in Spain, a coalition between socialists and conservatives, may come to pass in the Basque Country, where the left/right paradigm is trumped by the nationalist/non-nationalist divide.
3.03.2009
El laberinto vasco
On Sunday there were elections in Galicia and the Basque country. In Galicia the conservatives regained control of a region they are used to dominating. In Euskadi the Basque Nationalist Party may find itself out of power for the first time since the creation of the autonomous region back in the late seventies. They were the most voted party again, but didn't win enough seats to form a government. The non-nationalist parties could form a majority. (These were the first elections in which the political wing of ETA was prohibited from participating, for some making the election a fraud, and for others, myself included, making them more democratically legitimate. Should you allow the participation of organizations whose strength is partially predicated on fear, intimidation, and outright violence?) What would be unthinkable anywhere else in Spain, a coalition between socialists and conservatives, may come to pass in the Basque Country, where the left/right paradigm is trumped by the nationalist/non-nationalist divide.
