Euskal Herritarrok

Euskal Herritarrok (EH, 'Basque Citizens', in Basque) was a Spanish independence coalition of the Basque nationalist left that emerged in October 1998, initially as a group of nationalist voters, after the signing of the Estella pact. It brought together Herri Batasuna and other sectors of the left from non-nationalist parties such as Zutik and Batzarre. It had an ephemeral life and its first appearance in elections was in the 1998 regional elections, where it registered the best results of the Abertzale left until then.. After the breakdown of the ETA truce in 1999 and the consequent departure of the Batzarre and Zutik coalition in February 2000, Euskal Herritarrok still ran for the regional elections in 2001, suffering an electoral disaster. Shortly after, the process of refounding EH in Batasuna and its consequent disappearance culminated.

According to the request for outlawing filed by the State Prosecutor's Office in 2002 against Herri Batasuna, Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok, the creation of the latter platform was due to the fact that "in 1998 HB created Euskal Herritarrok (fearing of being outlawed) (EH), to be able to attend the regional elections to be held on October 25. Although HB is not formally dissolved, the truth is that in practice it is replaced by EH".

Evolution

In the regional and regional elections of 1999, EH surpassed the electoral mark of the left abertzale in the Basque Country, since 223,264 people gave them their vote. In the municipal elections they surpassed the previous mark, taking into account that they also presented lists to the municipalities and the Parliament of Navarra. Lastly, in the European elections, he achieved some support in the rest of Spain, with this last mark being surpassed, getting Koldo Gorostiaga to occupy a seat as MEP, but without exceeding the results of Herri Batasuna with the candidacy of Txema Montero in 1987.

In February 2000, Batzarre and Zutik left EH after the ETA truce broke, as there was no condemnation from Euskal Herritarrok. Due to discrepancies with the political line followed, among them EH's non-condemnation of ETA violence, Aralar was created in June 2000. The elections to the Basque Parliament in 2001 were a disaster for EH, since it lost half of its parliamentarians, although it maintained the number of votes that Herri Batasuna obtained before the truce. Shortly after, in May various currents of the abertzale left belonging to EH (among which was Aralar, although his paper was finally rejected) entered into a process of discussion and re-foundation from which Batasuna emerged, the party politician who was declared illegal in March 2003 for his links to the terrorist group ETA. By virtue of the Party Law, the ban also affected Herri Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok.

Ideology

The project on which Euskal Herritarrok was based was the creation of an independent State for the territories that would make up Euskal Herria. To this end, the left abertzale defends the right to self-determination, which would consist of holding a referendum on the independence of the Basque Country in all territories. The nationalist left inherits a socialist ideology. Although the way in which such socialism would be defined is difficult, they coined the term "identity socialism" as a form of socialism adapted to the situation in the Basque Country. Regarding the use of violence, the left abertzale understands that this is the product of a political conflict, and therefore considers the sentence as a futile tool and advocates overcoming the conflict by recognizing the "Basque territoriality" and the exercise of the right of self-determination.

Election results

^a Being Koldo Gorostiaga MEP.
^b Second political force in those elections.