New coalition Amaiur makes a strong showing after ETA ends violence

A new leftist Basque party with a goal of independence from Spain made a strong showing on Sunday when people voted in elections without the threat of violence for the first time in more than 40 years.

In most parts of Spain, the election build-up has been dominated by worries over the country's economic plight, especially high unemployment and cuts in public spending. Mariano Rajoy of the center-right People's Party won the contest and is expected to usher in an era of even more hardship.

But in the Basque Country, traditionally one of Spain's more prosperous regions, unemployment is relatively low and people are enjoying a new political scenario.

The armed Basque group ETA announced an end to decades of armed struggle in October and the new party, called Amaiur, is pursuing its quest for an independent Basque homeland through peaceful means.

"While the rest of Spain talks about unemployment and the economy, the Basque Country is also talking about Amaiur and what it means, peace or ETA," said Ivan Redondo of the Redondo political consultancy based in Madrid. "Amaiur is positioning itself as the party of peace."

Amaiur, a new coalition of Basque left-wing parties with separatist sympathies, won unprecedented control of city halls under the name of Bildu in local elections in May.

Bildu was the second-most popular party in the Basque Country, taking a quarter of votes after winning support throughout the fractured left and from pro-independence voters disillusioned with the moderate Basque Nationalist Party, which some saw as too willing to strike deals with the central government.

Amaiur won seven seats in the lower house, one more than the long-established Basque Nationalist Party, a strong enough representation to be able to present bills and have a voice in weekly debates with the prime minister.

But it is unclear how the new party, some of whose members have scarce political experience, would take their pro-independence agenda to Madrid.

Amaiur has also called on the government to release ETA prisoners or move them closer to their families, and to cut the military presence in the Basque Country, home to more than 2 million people.

"We will confront projects democratically and look for agreement, but we won't spend all day (in Parliament) because the two-party system won't approve anything that we could try to present," Inaki Antiguedad, who heads Amaiur's ticket in the Basque province Vizcaya, told Reuters.

Rajoy was adamantly opposed to pro-independence talks with ETA but analysts now see political dialogue with parties such as Amaiur as inevitable.

However, given Spain's high unemployment and the risk that it will become the next victim of the euro zone debt crisis, Rajoy is likely to focus his agenda on more economic issues.

After Amaiur's positive outcome on Sunday, the party is likely to set its eyes on the presidency of the Basque autonomous community and could call for regional elections, not due for another year and half, to be brought forward.