Basque Parlament vote For Vuelta return

about 2 years ago umwolverine 4 comments 0 recs |

Comments

Yep, interesting.

A reflection of the changing political face of the Basque parliament, which is now controlled by the socialists in coalition with the right wing Partido Popular rather than the Basque nationalists.

I have no idea what the general opinion on this on the ground is though. Even though the nationalists got ousted, more people are I think still aligned with the nationalists than this suggests; the nationalist PNV is still the largest party but could not agree on coalition terms so lost power. With the addition of the smaller nationalist parties, any coalition would have fallen (I think) one seat short, and the socialists wouldn’t join the party. Also, a very large number of the more nationalistically inclined population didn’t vote at all in protest over the banning of some political parties. Practically whole villages abstained in some cases. Basque politics, tis a tangled web….

"If I were World Road Race Champion, I would wear black shorts. That probably has more to do with me being on the wiser side of 30 and understanding better that the decisions I make now never really go away. White shorts would not be something I'd be proud of...." - David Millar, in Rouleur.

by Albertina on Nov 17, 2009 10:32 AM EST reply actions

indeed, interesting though

it’s one of my favourite european political areas of study. i’m in danger of going into geek mode here, so i’ll rein it in, but suffice to say albertina is right, the basque govt isn’t the most representative out there…however leaving politics aside, i’m all for seeing, say, amets txurruka winning a key mountain stage in a future vuelta on home ground. that would be one rowdy ascent.

"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09

by Ben Shave on Nov 17, 2009 6:21 PM EST up reply actions