A result for Bildu

Bildu, the grouping made of Basque pro-independence parties and individual candidates, will be able to run in the municipal elections in the Basque Country and Navarre on May 22. The Constitutional Court has overturned the Supreme Court's decision one week earlier to ban Bildu, on the grounds that it was an extension of Batasuna, the political wing of ETA, and which was outlawed in Spain in 2003. That controversial decision was openly criticized by the Basque Nationalist Party, or PNV, the region's largest party and a key ally in the Spanish parliament of the minority Socialist government led by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

The Constitutional Court has thrown its weight behind those who argued that it would be difficult to prevent a coalition that included two legal parties (Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) and Alternatiba), along with independent candidates from the Basque abertzale far left. At first glance, the ruling suggests that the Constitutional Court has decided not to take into account a Civil Guard report presented at the last moment about an alleged 2009 meeting between EA and ETA. EA denies any such meeting took place.

The Constitutional Court's ruling was approved by a six-to-five majority vote, and reflects the same political loyalties as those dividing the Supreme Court. The decision, however, marks a clear break with the Supreme Court's belief that the creation of Bildu was simply another attempt to maintain ETA's involvement in Basque politics, and should therefore be banned.

The task facing the Constitutional Court was to determine whether the evidence that linked Bildu to ETA was sufficient grounds for the Supreme Court, by a margin of nine to seven, to annul all of the radical grouping's 254 candidacy lists. The ruling shows, as the seven members of the Supreme Court who lost the vote had argued at the time, that the evidence was simply a hypothesis and had not been proven in practical terms.

What is more, the Supreme Court ruling failed to take into account the latest shift within the Basque nationalist left in favor of abandoning violence and pursuing its goals through the ballot box.

The opposition Popular Party has expressed its concern that if Bildu is allowed to participate in the municipal elections, and again in next year's general elections, this means that terrorists and those who support terrorism, will be given a boost. Another interpretation of the ruling is that it opens a door to the more moderate elements within the Basque abertzale left that have distanced themselves from violence, and have entered into pacts with two legal parties whose democratic credentials are impeccable.

There may be doubts as to the political wisdom of allowing the pro-independence left the chance to participate in government, or whether it would have been better to wait. Those doubts have finally been resolved by the courts. It can only be hoped now that the beneficiaries of the ruling take full advantage of it to pursue their aims through democratic means, thereby strengthening their credibility, a credibility that many continue to question.