Communist Party of the Basque Lands
The Communist Party of the Basque Country (in Basque: Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista; EHAK) was a party Spanish politician of communist, Basque nationalist and independence ideology. In the elections to the Basque Parliament in 2005, he obtained nine seats after promising to assume the principles of the outlawed Aukera Guztiak list. It was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2008 based on its links to the terrorist organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) and the outlawed Batasuna political party.
History
Origin
The Communist Party of the Basque Country (EHAK) was constituted before a Bilbao notary on July 29, 2002 and was registered as a party in the registry of the Ministry of the Interior on September 9, barely a month after the suspension of Batasuna's activities, the closure of its headquarters and the entry into force of the recently approved Party Law, during the second government of José María Aznar.
EHAK had emerged from the Euskal Herriko Komunistak (EHK), one of the currents that participated in the process of establishing Batasuna and which was related to the Red Current, whose leader Ángeles Maestro considered its reference in the Basque Country. Of the set of papers that were debated in the convergence process in Batasuna, the one defended by EHK, Igitaia eta Mailua ('The hammer and sickle'), was the most radical in its Marxist-Leninist postulates and the least in favor of merely nationalist agreements.
EHAK emerged from this current, in which some union leaders from Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak (LAB), a union linked to the Abertzale left, would participate. EHAK defended the dictatorship of the proletariat, the right to self-determination of the Basque people and its independence as a socialist republic, as well as the progressive elimination, by lawful political means, of the State, capital and social classes, according to its statutes; and in its first electoral rallies proliferated the flags of the Soviet Union.
Elections to the Basque Parliament of 2005
During the Basque regional electoral campaign of 2005, after the banning of the Aukera Guztiak (AG) candidacy in application of the Law on Parties, EHAK offered to represent the voters of the nationalist left in the Basque Parliament and promised to carry out only parliamentary work, renouncing any activity on the street. The Popular Party reacted by declaring that EHAK was a "fiction" so that the illegalized candidacies could concur with another denomination to the elections; something that the EHAK denied arguing, among other reasons, that this party existed before Batasuna was outlawed.
Finally, EHAK was able to stand in the elections and Nekane Erauskin, head of the list for Guipúzcoa, was its spokesperson during the campaign. It obtained 150,188 votes (12.44%) and nine seats, a higher figure in votes and seats than that obtained by Euskal Herritarrok in the 2001 elections (10.12% of votes and seven seats).
Following the arrest of the Batasuna leadership on September 14, 2007, while they were holding a meeting and in which EHAK parliamentarian Nekane Erauskin was present, the Spanish authorities seized information documenting the payment of payrolls from the EHAK to members of Batasuna. This fact, together with the presence of Erauskin at said meeting, was considered by various sectors as conclusive proof of the dependence between Batasuna and EHAK.
Process of illegalization
On February 8, 2008, EHAK, like Acción Nacionalista Vasca (ANV), was suspended from activity for three years by the then judge of the National Court Baltasar Garzón.
That same day, Chamber no. Likewise, it also dismissed the request for the precautionary suspension related to preventing EHAK from presenting candidacies for the elections —as it was meaningless since this party did not present lists before the Central Electoral Board—, which was agreed for ANV. However, the 16 magistrates of the Special Chamber of 1961, chaired by Francisco José Hernando, decided to suspend the public financing of both parties, as well as the right to present ANV candidacies in the general elections of that year.
Finally, on September 18, 2008, the Supreme Court declared EHAK illegal, considering its links to ETA and Batasuna. Days before, it had also declared ANV illegal. In the ruling, the court considered that the formation was executing a terrorist strategy with a close political-operative relationship with Batasuna. The sentence was based on the economic and material support received from the party by Batasuna through economic transfers, infrastructure, payment of salaries and the incorporation of relevant members of the illegal organization.