Socialists divided over move to strike radical slates from Basque ballot

Lawyers for the Bildu coalition filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to allow its candidates on 254 slates to run in the May 22 local elections. The top court has until midnight on Thursday to issue its ruling. In its argument, Bildu claims that its constitutional rights have been violated by the government, which challenged all the candidacies running for office.

In a nine-to-six vote on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that Bildu's candidates in the Basque Country and Navarre are apparently being supported by ETA. As part of its argument, the Attorney General's Office filed evidence with the court, including police reports, that apparently demonstrated ETA and its political wing Batasuna had been seeking a coalition with legitimate abertzale left parties to field candidates in the upcoming local elections.

Bildu was created last month through a partnership with the legal parties Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) and Alternatiba after the Supreme Court had barred the newly formed organization Sortu from registering because many of its members had Batasuna links.

The wave of successive legal challenges against abertzale left formations has taken a political toll on the ruling Socialists. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) withdrew its parliamentary support for the government on Tuesday after PNV spokesman Josu Erkoreka said that the Socialists had broken a promise to make any decisions regarding pro-independence groups "in tune" with the nationalists.

Even some inside the Socialist Party are hoping that the Constitutional Court will rule in favor of Bildu. Eduardo Madina, the secretary general of the Socialist bench in parliament and the party's number two in Congress, said that maybe the court "will give some good news" about the issue. Many inside the Socialists also share Madina's positive outlook but are keeping it to themselves.

Madina, a Basque Socialist and ETA bombing victim who made his comments during a closed-door session with the parliamentary members, said that he believes that the political situation in the Basque Country is experiencing notable changes because the abertzale left is taking encouraging steps toward distancing itself from ETA violence. The terrorist group is presently observing a ceasefire.

Another deputy, the leftist Juan Antonio Barrio de Penagos, criticized the government for "overreacting" by challenging all of Bildu's candidates.

But Madina denied that the government had overreacted and praised the work of Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, who is also interior minister. The Socialist parliamentary leader said that he believes Rubalcaba's assessment that ETA has been weakened.

Guillermo Fernández Vara, the Socialist regional premier of Extremadura, said that not everyone shared in the decision that all the candidacies had to be struck down.

According to an EL PAÍS survey last month, only two contenders have some connection to outlawed parties. Endika Jayo Bilbao, who wants to run for mayor in the town of Mañaria, Vizcaya, was on the 2007 election slate for the now-outlawed National Basque Action (ANV) party. The other person is José María Aracama, number five on the slate in Zegama, Guipúzcoa, was part of the Sozialista Abertzaleak slate four years ago, which was banned in 2007 by the Supreme Court.

Many lawmakers from the PSE Basque and PSC Catalan branches of the Socialist Party also believe that a blanket challenge was excessive. Basque regional premier Patxi López said that he "knew" and was "sure" that neither EA nor Alternatiba form part of ETA's strategy." López said that many Basque residents also share his opinion, but added that he would respect the court's final decision.

EA and Alternatiba "surely could have been more demanding with the abertzale left in obligating them to definitely break its links with any violence," López said.

According to the police report presented by the Attorney General's Office, ETA designed a proposal in 2008, which was adopted by Batasuna the following year, to create an alliance of leftist political parties. Batasuna and EA signed an accord last year, the police said. López said he hasn't met with any Bildu members because their organization is still not a legal one.