2012 Basque regional election

2012 Basque regional election

← 2009 21 October 2012 2016 →
All 75 seats in the Basque Parliament 38 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	1,775,351 0.0%
Turnout	1,135,568 (64.0%) 0.7 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Iñigo Urkullu Laura Mintegi Patxi López Party EAJ/PNV EH Bildu PSE–EE (PSOE) Leader since 2 December 2007 2 July 2012 23 March 2002 Leader's seat Biscay Biscay Álava Last election 30 seats, 38.1% 5 seats, 9.6%[a] 25 seats, 30.4% Seats won 27 21 16 Seat change 3 16 9 Popular vote 384,766 277,923 212,809 Percentage 34.2% 24.7% 18.9% Swing 3.9 pp 15.1 pp 11.5 pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Antonio Basagoiti Gorka Maneiro Party PP UPyD Leader since 12 July 2008 2008 Leader's seat Biscay Álava Last election 13 seats, 13.9% 1 seat, 2.1% Seats won 10 1 Seat change 3 0 Popular vote 130,584 21,539 Percentage 11.6% 1.9% Swing 2.3 pp 0.2 pp
Vote winner strength by constituency Election result by constituency
Lehendakari before election Patxi López PSE–EE (PSOE) Elected Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu EAJ/PNV

The 2012 Basque regional election was held on Sunday, 21 October 2012, to elect the 10th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with a regional election in Galicia. Lehendakari Patxi López announced the parliament's dissolution half a year ahead of schedule as a result of the People's Party (PP) withdrawing their support from his government,^[1] prompting Galician president Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had been scheduling a snap election in Galicia to be held at some point throughout late 2012, to make his decision to have a simultaneous vote.^[2]

The election saw a heavy defeat for the ruling Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE), with the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) retaining first place with a slightly diminished support. In the first electoral campaign without ETA—the band had announced a "definitive cessation of its armed activity" in October 2011^[3]—the abertzale left experienced a major breakthrough under the EH Bildu label nine years after the illegalization of Batasuna, obtaining a record result with 21 seats and 24.7% of the share.^[4] The PP deepened on its long-term decline and, with 11.6% and 10 seats, scored its worst result since 1990,^[5] while Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) retained its single seat in parliament. Altogether, the bloc formed by the PSE–EE, PP and UPyD which had supported López in 2009 was reduced from 39 to 27 seats.^[6][7]

Iñigo Urkullu of the PNV became the new lehendakari, forming a minority government with the sole support of his party after over three years in opposition.^[8] Under Urkullu, the PNV would see an ideological realignment from former lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe's sovereigntist stance and confrontational style towards more moderate, pragmatic and big tent positions.^[9][10]

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