The Basque PSOE is reinforced with Sánchez and wins the PNV and EH Bildu in votes
The PSOE managed yesterday to be fifteen years later the most voted party in Euskadi in a general election. A victory of almost 14,000 votes difference against PNV and EH Bildu, the two nationalist formations that had turned 23-J into a duel that yesterday ended in a draw. Barely 700 votes separated PNV from Bildu who aspired to 'sorpasso' in Basque nationalism. Although the three formations achieved 5 deputies each, the one won by the Socialists in Guipúzcoa and by EH Bildu in Vizcaya, respectively, strengthens them as an alternative to the PNV. Andoni Ortuzar's party achieved its minimum objective of preserving the parliamentary group with the aim of maintaining itself as “the voice of Euskadi” after losing its monopoly in Congress.
The comfortable victory in votes of the PSE-EE in Euskadi was substantiated by the support obtained in Vizcaya where it managed to be the second list with the most votes, in Álava -with less population- by winning in this Territory and in a creditable second place also in Guipúzcoa, the constituency in which Bildu's leadership is most notable. Arnaldo Otegi's formation won the regional elections in Guipúzcoa on March 28 with Maddalen Iriarte and only thanks to the PP, the PNV and the PSE-EE were they able to maintain the Gipuzkoan regional institution.
The definitive distribution of the 18 Basque deputies reproduced what all the polls predicted, which, however, did not predict a socialist victory or that the PNV would be relegated to being the second Basque force practically tied with EH Bildu and, in the case of Álava, it would be the fourth force in votes. Paradoxically, the Basque PSOE and PNV -partners in the Urkullu government- had diametrically opposed results, after a polarized campaign in the duel between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
The most important socialist electoral stretch occurred in Greater Bilbao, the metropolis made up of the capital and all the towns on the Left Bank. The PSE-EE recovered yesterday the condition of the most voted list in a general election in Vizcaya, the traditional stronghold of the PNV and that the nationalist tandem Andoni Ortuzar and Iñigo Urkullu had turned into an electoral stronghold since 2012. In contrast, yesterday and in a general election, the PNV lost almost 70,000 votes compared to its 2019 results.
The nationalists and Sumar are the two parties that lose representation in Congress, although their falls are not comparable. In the case of the nationalists, the five deputies achieved fit into their forecasts and allows them to maintain a vital parliamentary group to have the necessary infrastructure with which to continue having visibility and influence in parliamentary day-to-day. But the result of 23-J confirms their difficulties in both Álava and Guipúzcoa to counteract the growth of an EH Bildu that is benefiting from the collapse of Podemos, now converted into Yolanda Díaz's Sumar.
Otegi's coalition practically tied with the PNV in the whole of Euskadi in some generals but yesterday it was ahead of it by more than 30,000 votes although in the distribution of deputies they were equal. Also in Álava, the PNV suffered another setback yesterday after losing the Mayor's Office on 28-J. Two key Historical Territories in the autonomic ones because in each one of them 25 parliamentarians are elected.
Elections in 2024 to which the Basque PP will go with hope with its notable electoral recovery, having won two seats when in 2019 it was on the verge of being left without representation. On the other hand, Sumar only managed to elect Lander Martínez, which leaves Pilar Garrido, the general secretary of Podemos in Euskadi, out of Congress.. More than 42,000 votes for this coalition in Guipúzcoa and Álava were left without a prize.