Bildu: the most rational force of sanchismo

None of the parties of the sanchista bloc is applying a more coherent political behavior than that of the political heirs of terrorism. They are the most predictable and the ones that are generating the least problems. And, also, those who are obtaining the most electoral and social returns. Your normalization advances across the entire machine. The way they are going, they are destined to grow and become the dominant force in both the Basque Country and Navarra.. It is a simple matter of time, although they have a ceiling that will be difficult to overcome.

We'll see if there ends up being an investiture as it seems and if afterwards we have to endure a term as harsh as the one that passed between 1993 and 1996 (the last in the Government of Felipe González).. It seems like a plausible scenario, we will surely go through some years even more ferocious than those. On this occasion, there will be no qualms to remain in power. They will go with everything.

It is risky to predict in which state each party will reach that moment of alternation in political power.. However, there is no risk in assuming that those at Bildu will enjoy a better (even better) situation than the current one.. They have a clear strategy, they are applying it methodically and they have demonstrated a high capacity to benefit from the mistakes made by their competitors..

Throughout the last legislature they were already able to complete the first phase, they took away from the PNV its main attribute. Their electoral adversaries are no longer the only ones who can offer the Basque or Navarrese voter a capacity for dialogue, negotiation and reliability with respect to Madrid..

During the last few years, those at Bildu have not posed a single order to the Moncloa while everyone else made fuss and brandished bluffing threats of rupture.. They worked with rigor and discretion to take their part in each agreement. And then they were able to exploit each political success with skill in communicating. Without much fanfare, they were able to put medals on their chests one after another, from labor reform to raising the minimum wage, including euthanasia and abortion..

This working method, so contrary to that of Podemos, so superior in its neatness to that of the Catalan nationalists, has demonstrated much greater refinement than that applied by the PNV. As a natural consequence, the results of seriousness did not take long to reach the polls.. First in May, where the loot was substantial. And then in the general elections, when all of Sánchez's partners were penalized but they were not.

Your data is impressive. But the greatest triumph is of an intangible nature and with a longer journey.. The whitening process is your true strategic conquest. The naturalization of Bildu fueled by Moncloa generates something more valuable than the broadening of the brand, it encourages its redefinition for the public without altering even a millimeter the political nature of the product.

Democracy defeated terror. But his executors have not given up anything: they maintain the will to rewrite a history different from what happened (hurting the memory of the victims and the moral fiber of our society), they maintain the strategy of bursting the constitutional system and, of course, the unity of Spain. However, they are receiving a substantial payment for keeping Sánchez in power. Those from Otegi do not feel any pressure nor any incentive to stop being what they are or to stop doing what they do..

For this reason, it can be taken for granted that they will continue to persevere. In fact, they are doing it. Since the general elections in July, Bildu is the only formation of the Sanchista bloc that has not made any demands to the PSOE. They don't need it, they do very well that way. And the best is yet to come.

They have Moncloa delivered. They have the rest of the partners working for them. And they have the PNV completely disarmed: culturally surpassed, weakened because its leaders are worn out and without replacements, strategically cornered since they made the historic mistake of tying themselves to Sánchez and surrendered all their political autonomy, and, this is key, electorally aged.

Ortuzar's people, of course, retain mechanisms of social control that should not be underestimated.. But they are running out of political offerings other than tradition (an unfavorable reason for voting in these times of so much iconoclastic demand).. What can they offer in the next Basque elections?

Territorially, a light product compared to Bildu's.

Economically, an antonym product that will be endorsed in Madrid vote after vote.

And socially, a temperate model (correct management of public services) in the face of the discomfort that the permacrisis has been heating up.

His alliance with the socialists is no longer sustained as it was before on ethical grounds, not even ideologically, now we are only faced with a circumstantial couple.. We all know that the relationship will continue as long as there is a sum, but no one knows if the sum will last much longer..

So we will see the Basque socialists voting in favor of the Lendakari investiture of the Bildu candidate and those of us who express our rejection will be called fascists.

It's probably not going to happen next time – although I don't dare rule it out – but it will happen.. All the necessary circumstances are in place for Otegi's team to continue rising. And one is missing, this is difficult to execute, so that your party is definitely propelled.

In the same way that Catalan nationalism will have to get rid of the entire generation that failed in the coup and poisoned Catalan and Spanish politics, it is also essential that Bildu get rid of Otegi and company if it wants to take over the dominant position.. The rational decision is that. And, this is the paradox, anyone can behave rationally when reason is not on their side..

The template is clear: Gerry Adams was (like Otegi in ETA) an active member of the terrorist group IRA, he stopped being the leader of Sinn Féin five years ago. Last year, his party was victorious in Northern Ireland. Time can do almost everything, it would be desirable if it could not also power memory.