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BILBAO, SPAIN - APRIL 22, 2024:ÌýThe Basque nationalist parties, EH Bildu and PNV, tied in the Basque elections at 27 MPs, although the conservative PNV won in votes. The Socialists of the PSE, with 12 seats, hold the key to the government of the Basque Country. Footage shows supporters of the EH Bildu, the left-wing Basque pro-independence party, at an event in Bilbao, Spain. Voters went to the polls in the Basque Country on Sunday, April 21, to choose the new Basque parliament. EH Bildu was formed in 2011 and was briefly banned by the Spanish Supreme Court for its links to the banned ETA-affiliated Batasuna party. Its Secretary-General is Arnaldo Otegi, who was a convicted member of the armed group ETA which killed around 829 people during a terror campaign from 1968 to 2010. While Otegi is not running to lead the Basque Country, the party’s candidate to lead the Basque Country, Pello Otxandiano, caused a storm of controversy when he refused to call ETA a terrorist group during an interview. ETA officially disbanded in 2018. Meanwhile, the PNV has governed the Basque Country nearly uninterrupted since 1980, often leading a coalition. It was only briefly in the opposition between 2009 and 2012 when it was ousted by a minority Socialist government. The Basque Country is one of the wealthiest regions of Spain and it has the country’s lowest unemployment rate of just 6.5%. With a strong industrial labor force, it was also home to 46% of all the strikes in Spain by the end of 2023, according to Labor Relations Council (CRL) data. (Footage by Javi Julio /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)