EH Bildu aspires to "be decisive" on 23-J so that "the right is left out"

2023-06-05T13:31:31.795Z

Highlights: EH Bildu faces the general elections of 23-J as a "second round" of the municipal elections held on May 28. Mertxe Aizpurua, who has served as speaker of the lower house, and Oskar Matute will once again be the prominent candidates. The militancy must endorse the proposal of the leadership this coming Thursday and Friday. EH Bildu boasts of having become the lifeline of the PSOE-Unidas Podemos Executive in its most decisive moments.

The Basque pro-independence left presents a continuist list headed by Mertxe Aizpurua for the general elections

The general coordinator of EH Bildu, Arnaldo Otegi, after appearing on Monday with the representatives of this formation in the Congress and the Senate.Javier Etxezarreta (EFE)

EH Bildu faces the general elections of 23-J as a "second round" of the municipal elections held on May 28, in which it managed to be the most voted force in the whole of the Basque Country and Navarra (366,339 votes and 1,399 councilors). The abertzale coalition hopes to consolidate the rise experienced by 28-M and allow it to "be decisive" during the next legislature in the Congress of Deputies. Its leader, Arnaldo Otegi, has made it clear on Monday that the vote for the candidacy of EH Bildu will be "so that the right is left out" of the Government.

The Political Bureau of EH Bildu has approved "giving continuity" to the team of deputies that has integrated its parliamentary group during the last four-year period. Mertxe Aizpurua, who has served as speaker of the lower house, and Oskar Matute will once again be the prominent candidates of the sovereigntist formation. "They have done an excellent job and have achieved positive agreements for the Basque people. It would make little sense to make changes to the lists," said Otegi. The militancy must endorse the proposal of the leadership this coming Thursday and Friday.

EH Bildu will be presented to these elections as a "safe value" of progressive policies, remarked the general coordinator of the formation: "We have shown that we are a plural, serious and solid space, which does not make noise, without internal disagreements and that gives security. We want to be decisive." The Basque sovereigntists have been one of the most faithful supporters of the Government of Pedro Sánchez during the legislature that expires. EH Bildu boasts of having become the lifeline of the PSOE-Unidas Podemos Executive in its most decisive moments: "When we have been in the agreements, it has been shown that they have been good for the Basques. We must continue working in Madrid," said Otegi. In the 2019 elections, the Abertzale coalition obtained almost 260,000 votes in Euskadi and Navarra and four representatives in Congress.

Otegi has referred, to questions from journalists, to the agreement signed by the PNV and the PSE in the Basque Country that could close the door to EH Bildu in the City Council of Vitoria and the Diputación de Gipuzkoa if those formations have the votes of the PP. The independence leader has lamented that, "while some are distributing the charges", EH Bildu will hold a new meeting this week with Elkarrekin Podemos to agree on "a minimum program". "It is something curious, because it intends to make a holy alliance with the ayusistas to evict EH Bildu and within 15 days they will say that we must stop to the right. What level of credibility do they have?, he asked in reference to the PNV and the Basque Socialists.