- Euskadiko Ezkerra
Euskadiko Ezkerra ("Basque Country Left", in Basque) or EE was a Basque
socialist political organisation. It was founded as a coalition ofEuskal Iraultzarako Alderdia (EIA, "Basque Party for Revolution" or "Party for Basque Revolution") and other Basque Marxist forces in1977 to present lists for the Spanish general elections in the constituencies of Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa and Álava, while Unai, an allied coalition, was to present a list in the constituency of Navarre.EE's list in Guipúzcoa won one seat in the Spanish Congress for
Francisco Letamendía , one in the Senate forJuan María Bandrés , a lawyer forETA members, and none in the other constituencies. Many prominent members of EE (including candidates from these lists, asPedro Solabarría ,Jon Idígoras ,Santiago Brouard , Félix Eguía "Argala", andIgnacio Esnaola ) eventually separated from the coalition and formedHerri Batasuna . EE called for "no" in the Referendum for Spanish Constitution in1978 .Several of the members of ETA (pm) joined peaceful political action in EE after they abandoned violence and negotiated pardons from the Spanish government.In 1982 it merged with some sectors of PCE-EPK (the Basque branch of PCE) and became a party under the name EE-IPS, "Euskadiko Ezkerra-Izquierda para el Socialismo" ("Left for Socialism"), while often using the simpler name Euskadiko Ezkerra. Its general secretary in this period was
Mario Onaindia Nachiondo , a former ETA member during the Franco era, later replaced by Kepa Aulestia.EE called for a "no" on the membership of Spain in
NATO in the referendum held in1986 . While the "yes" vote won nationally, the "no" campaign triumphed in the Basque Autonomous Community.After the split of the
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the creation ofEusko Alkartasuna (EA) in1987 , EE established several coalitions with the latter. In1991 EE entered in the government of theBasque Autonomous Community in coalition with both PNV and EA.Later , in 1991, a majority of party affiliates approved a merger with
Socialist Party of the Basque Country (PSE), the branch of theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) for the Basque Autonomous Community. The resulting party is the current PSE-EE. However a section of Euskadiko Ezkerra (including the deputyKoro Garmendia ) disagreed with the PSE merger, and, since the Euskadiko Ezkerra name was retained by the majority of members who approved the merger with the PSE, the remaining faction went on to create a new party,Euskal Ezkerra (EuE, "Basque Left") which, in turn, merged soon after withEusko Alkartasuna .
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