2009 Basque regional election

2009 Basque regional election
← 2005 1 March 2009 2012 →
All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament
38 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered1,776,059 Red arrow down1.3%
Turnout1,148,697 (64.7%)
Red arrow down3.3 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Juan José Ibarretxe Patxi López Antonio Basagoiti
Party EAJ/PNV PSE–EE (PSOE) PP
Leader since 31 January 1998 23 March 2002 12 July 2008
Leader's seat Álava Biscay Biscay
Last election 22 seats
(PNV–EA)[a] 		18 seats, 22.5% 15 seats, 17.3%
Seats won 30 25 13
Seat change Green arrow up8 Green arrow up7 Red arrow down2
Popular vote 399,600 318,112 146,148
Percentage 38.1% 30.4% 13.9%
Swing n/a Green arrow up7.9 pp Red arrow down3.4 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Aintzane Ezenarro Unai Ziarreta Javier Madrazo
Party Aralar EA EB–B
Leader since 14 November 2004 16 December 2007 14 May 1994
Leader's seat Guipúzcoa Biscay (lost) Biscay (lost)
Last election 1 seat, 2.3% 7 seats
(PNV–EA)[a] 		3 seats, 5.3%
Seats won 4 1 1
Seat change Green arrow up3 Red arrow down6 Red arrow down2
Popular vote 62,514 38,198 36,373
Percentage 6.0% 3.6% 3.5%
Swing Green arrow up3.7 pp n/a Red arrow down1.8 pp
Lehendakari before election

Juan José Ibarretxe
EAJ/PNV

Elected Lehendakari

Patxi López
PSE–EE (PSOE)

The 2009 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 1 March 2009, to elect the 9th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with a regional election in Galicia. It would be the first time that the elections for two of the Spanish "historical regions"—namely, those comprising Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country itself—were held simultaneously.[1] This would evolve into an unwritten convention in subsequent years, with Basque and Galician elections being held concurrently in 2012, 2016 and 2020.[2]

The 2009 Basque election was the first one to be held without any major electoral candidacy from the abertzale left, after their previous iterations—the Communist Party of the Basque Homelands (PCTV/EHAK) and Basque Nationalist Action (ANV)—had been outlawed in September 2008 because of their reported ties to ETA and the outlawed Batasuna party.[3][4] In early February 2009, two political groupings formed by abertzale left members to contest the election, Demokrazia Hiru Milioi (D3M) and Askatasuna ("Freedom"),[5] were barred from contesting the election by both the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.[6][7][8] In response, the abertzale left asked their voters to cast invalid ballots, both in protest to the court rulings and seeking to prevent tactical voting in favour of either Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe's Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) or Eusko Alkartasuna (EA).[9]

The election resulted in an upset, as Basque nationalist parties lost their parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years,[10][11][12] paving the way for a non-PNV led government. The Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE) under Patxi López gained seven seats to command a 25-strong caucus, the best historical showing of the party in a Basque regional election. The People's Party (PP), which had switched leaders less than a year before the election as former leader María San Gil quit over disagreements with the national leadership of Mariano Rajoy,[13] had a net loss of two seats from 2005. The new Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) party, founded in 2007 by former PSOE member and regional minister Rosa Díez was able to achieve a breakthrough in Álava and have its regional candidate Gorka Maneiro elected. Meanwhile, PNV's previous coalition partners, Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) and Ezker Batua (EB), suffered a harsh electoral downturn with both their leaders losing their seats and resigning in the aftermath of the election.[14][15]

The PSE formed a minority government with López as the first non-PNV lehendakari since 1979 through a confidence and supply agreement with the PP.[16][17] While both parties had established an uneasy alliance in the Basque Country since the late 1990s despite their overall national rivalry, this would constitute the most relevant agreement reached between both parties at any level of administration.[18]


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  1. ^ "Ibarretxe solapa las elecciones vascas con las gallegas para debilitar a sus rivales". El País (in Spanish). 3 January 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Feijóo lanza un adelanto electoral de alto riesgo frente a un PSOE fortalecido desde la Moncloa". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 10 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  3. ^ "El Supremo ilegaliza ANV y acuerda su disolución". El País (in Spanish). 16 September 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  4. ^ "El Tribunal Supremo acuerda la ilegalización del EHAK-PCTV" (in Spanish). Cadena SER. 18 September 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  5. ^ "La plataforma abertzale D3M presenta sus candidaturas a las elecciones vascas" (in Spanish). RTVE. 25 January 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  6. ^ "El Tribunal Supremo anula las listas de Askatasuna y D3M". El Mundo (in Spanish). 8 February 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  7. ^ "El Tribunal Constitucional confirma la anulación de las listas de Askatasuna y D3M". El Mundo (in Spanish). 13 February 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Los partidos y marcas de la izquierda abertzale ilegalizadas y la fecha en la que dictó la resolución el TC". Público (in Spanish). 22 May 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  9. ^ "La izquierda 'abertzale' votará nulo". El País (in Spanish). 14 February 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Vuelco electoral histórico en Galicia y en el País Vasco". El Mundo (in Spanish). 2 March 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  11. ^ "El PNV gana pero los nacionalistas pierden la mayoría". El País (in Spanish). 1 March 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  12. ^ "El Parlamento vasco tendrá, por primera vez en tres décadas, mayoría no nacionalista" (in Spanish). RTVE. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  13. ^ "San Gil dimite como líder del PP vasco". El País (in Spanish). 22 May 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Ziarreta pierde su escaño y cae fulminado tras el gran desastre de EA". El País (in Spanish). 2 March 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  15. ^ "El descalabro de Ezker Batua se cobra el escaño de Madrazo". El Mundo (in Spanish). 2 March 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  16. ^ "El PP entrega a Patxi López su apoyo para que presida el Gobierno vasco". El Confidencial (in Spanish). 12 March 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  17. ^ "El pacto del PSE-PP garantiza cuatro años de gobierno de Patxi López". El País (in Spanish). 30 March 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Historia de los pactos del PSE y el PP: Juntos, pero no revueltos" (in Spanish). RTVE. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2020.