Updated: Apr 21, 2024 | 23:15
21 abr 2024 | 14:03
Participation in the Basque Country elections has reached 62.5%, almost 10 points above the last regional elections, those of 2020, which were held in the middle of the pandemic and in the middle of July. The data recorded – with 99.74% of the vote counted – is in the historical average of the autonomous community, in which participation has never been above 78.97%, although it did so exceptionally.
By territory, in Bizkaia the participation has been the highest, with 63.41%, while in Guipúzcoa it has been 61.67%, and in Álava, 61.11%.
At 6:00 p.m., 51% of Basques had already voted, as reported in an appearance by the vice president and Security Councilor, Josu Erkoreka. The current data cannot be compared with the participation in the elections four years ago because the data collection has been carried out at different times. By territory, in Vizcaya (Bizkaia) the participation was 51.9%; in Guipúzcoa (Gipuzkoa) 50.7%, and in Álava (Araba), 48.7%.
By provincial capital, in Bilbao, 50.3% of the electorate had voted at 6:00 p.m.; in San Sebastián 51.5% and in Vitoria 47.8%. Erkoreka has highlighted that election day has developed normally and without any incidents to highlight. The first advance in participation was known around lunchtime: and at 1:00 p.m., the total participation percentage was 28.05%. On this occasion, Guipúzcoa (Gipuzkoa) was the historical territory in which the most voters had gone to the polls: 30.02%.
With more than 99% of the vote counted, the results of the Basque elections already pointed to something definitive: what the polls have been predicting in recent weeks becomes a reality, that is, a tie between PNV and EH Bildu, which It represents a historical fact for the Abertzales.
However, we also have to wait for the CERA vote, that is, for the ballots of Basque voters residing abroad, which arrive by diplomatic bag and are not counted until five days after election day. We must not forget that the count of the foreign vote may change some seats at the last minute.
Euskadi recovers ‘normality’ in participation
The Basque Country has just recorded its worst participation data in history: in 2020, in an election that was held on the same day as the Galician elections, the participation and abstention figures for Euskadi were very similar, both approaching 50%. It was the regional electoral process in which the least participation was recorded, although we must not forget that those elections were held during the Covid pandemic and in the middle of July.
In any case, participation in Euskadi has been oscillating, with an average of 64% throughout the 12 autonomous processes that have been held so far. The highest participation that has been recorded to date on Basque soil was in 2001, when it was close to 80%. The number of Basques who voted by mail multiplied by four, reaching 80,000 votes.
Until then, Basques were more likely to mobilize in general elections than in regional elections. Until 2001, the best participation figure had been recorded in the 1998 elections, shortly after the signing of the Lizarra Pact and the declaration of a truce by ETA.
In fact, a streak of five elections with a drop in participation has ended in the Basque Country, which has been declining since precisely the one mentioned in 2001. Therefore, these 2024 elections have changed the trend with the first increase of participation in this century in the Basque territory.
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