The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) closed their campaign for Sunday's parliamentary election at a meeting in Bilbao in the company of the general secretary of Together for Catalonia (Junts), Jordi Turull. On the final day of campaigning for the Basque Country autonomous community election, the PNV president, Andoni Ortuzar, sought to smear arch rival EH Bildu for the statements of its candidate, Pello Otxandiano, in which he refused to label ETA as a terrorist organization. "We present ourselves with our faces uncovered", he said when making a comparison to the left-wing, pro-independence party. Imanol Pradales, candidate of the centre-right PNV to lead the Basque government after the elections, asked the hundreds of people who attended the event to return his party to power for four more years of "progress" in Euskadi.
The event started with a 'gag' which is an election rally tradition for the Basque Nationalists: two characters enter the event, mingle in the audience and have a humorous conversation into which they drop campaign slogans. Once the event itself had begun, Pradales thanked his predecessor Iñigo Urkullu for the support during the campaign, and referred to him as maisu, meaning "teacher". The fact is that the current president - who only has a few days left in office - was a secondary school teacher of the candidate who, most likely, will go on to renew the government pact with the Basque Socialists (PSE). Drawing parallels with his favourite activity at a young age - rowing - he asked the Basques to row with him this Sunday, in order to maintain the PNV as the hegemonic party of the Basque Country.
Urkullu recalled during his speech the moment he was sworn in as lehendakari - Basque leader - on December 15th, 2012 and the honour it represented for him. Even so, he acknowledged that during his mandate he has had to face "moments of great difficulty". "We defend with pride everything we have achieved together, together, and we move forward with excitement and commitment", because "we have a lot to do", he asserted, at the same time as he asked Basques to support the PNV's project for the "future".
The centre-right nationalist candidate was accompanied by a delegation of politicians from other parties. Apart from Jordi Turull - the first secretary of Junts only made an appearance, without delivering a speech - a representation from the Canarian Coalition headed by Carlos Alonso also attended, along with Xisca Mora, vice president of Balearic Island group Proposta.
"Presenting yourself with your face uncovered"
In his speech, the PNV president, Andoni Ortuzar, emphasized that his party does not put on "make-up during the campaign to pretend to be what it is not". "The PNV presents itself to society, with a clean face, with an uncovered face", he said, responding directly to a call made this Thursday by Bildu party leader Arnaldo Otegi inviting those undecided on voting for the PNV to vote for Bildu. "We don't want defections; we don't steal votes", said the president.
"We tell people what we want to do, what our programme is and we listen to what people tell us, and also to all the criticisms of what we haven't done well", continued Ortuzar. The Basque Nationalist leader concluded his speech asking for a "positive" vote for his party, in order to "advance the Basque nation".
The Basque campaign has turned poisonous in the last four days after a response given by Bildu candidate Pello Otxandiano, when he was asked by the SER radio network if ETA was a terrorist group. He did not say yes at any time, and referred to the organization only as an "armed gang". The PSE and the People's Party (PP) have taken advantage of this in the days since to draw blood. The PNV, at first, preferred to disassociate itself from it, in order to "not muddy the campaign", as sources from the senior leadership of the Nationalists explained to this newspaper. It has become clear, however, that the PNV has changed its strategy in the final metres of the electoral sprint.
It will be necessary to see what impact Otxandiano's slip-up has in the polls this Sunday, as until now Bildu has led the polling during the final stretch of the campaign. The abertzales - the pro-independence Basque left - had an historic relationship with ETA during the terrorism era that could be likened to that between Sinn Fein and the IRA. But that era ended in 2010 when they definitively abandoned the armed struggle and began a successful peace process. The question is, has Basque society become immune to efforts to revive the ghost of ETA or will it punish the left-wing party that until now has dreamed of an historic triumph over its rival?