YESTERDAY'S regional elections in Galicia and the Basque Country have renewed their existing parties' mandates – and in the case of the former, PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has held onto his presidential seat for the fourth consecutive term.
After 12 years in power, Feijóo, 58, is set to make it at least 16 after a landslide victory that gave him 42 seats in regional Parliament.
Feijóo (pictured right) is of a more 'moderate', 'centrist' or 'liberal' strain of the right-wing PP, which has been key to his extensive term in office at a time when the party has seen its power waning nationwide – and, in fact, he has attributed his team's win to their own, local efforts, given that the influence by the PP at national level and its staunchly-right leader Pablo Casado was minimal.
The Basque National Party (PNV) reaffirmed its leadership, meaning the current lehendakari, or regional president, Íñigo Urkullu, also 58, is back in office for another four years.
He did slightly better than four years ago, meaning he could govern alone, but it is likely Urkullu (pictured left) will renew the PNV's coalition with the socialists (PSE), led by Idoia Mendia, who gained an extra seat this time around.
Some concerns were raised about whether the elections would be truly democratic, given that anyone testing positive for Covid-19 or with suspect symptoms was not allowed to vote in case they infected other members of the public at the polling station – and, in fact, would face arrest and huge fines if they tried – but the overall turn-out was not as low as expected, being practically the same as in previous elections in Galicia and only slightly reduced in the Basque Country.
Overall, in both cases, the regional parties gathered strength: The PNV, the Basque reunification party EH-Bildu, and the Galicia-based BNG improved their results, at the cost of the socialists and left-wing Podemos, who are in coalition in national Parliament.
In fact, Podemos saw a drastic drop, leaving it with no representation at all in Galicia, despite its work minister at national level, Yolanda Díaz, having campaigned hard.
National leader for Podemos and government first deputy president Pablo Iglesias called it an 'unmitigated defeat' and says the party now needs to reflect and 'critique itself profoundly' in order to 'learn from the mistakes it had undoubtedly made'.
Centre-right Ciudadanos, and far-right Vox, did not achieve any representation in Galicia either.
The BNG earned 19 seats, compared with six in 2016, and the regional socialists, the PSdeG, kept its 14 from four years ago.
Feijóo gained an additional seat from his 41 in 2016, meaning he was well clear of the 38 needed for an outright majority.
In the Basque Country, Podemos – led by Miren Gorrotxategi – lost half its representation, dropping from 11 seats to six.
This time around, the PP and Ciudadanos opted to campaign together in coalition – in 2016, the PP gained nine seats and Ciudadanos none – but the gamble did not pay off, leaving the two parties with only five seats in total.
EH Bildu emerged as the second-largest political force in the Basque Country, with 22 seats, an improvement on its 18 from 2016, whilst the socialists have now risen from fourth to third, with 10 seats instead of the nine they had until yesterday.
For an outright majority, 38 was needed, meaning the PNV – with 31, compared with 28 at the previous elections – is likely to renew its coalition with the socialists.
Far-right Vox earned one seat out of 75, meaning their influence is likely to be minimal, although this the first time they have managed to gain a foothold in Basque Parliament at all.
Urkullu will now be starting his third term of office in the lehendakaritza, or 'presidency', meaning by the next elections in 2024 he will have been in power for a consecutive 12 years.
The previous regional elections in Galicia and the Basque Country were held in September, rather than in July – and it was at around that time when Feijóo, who had then just turned 55, announced he was about to become a dad for the first time the following February.
His long-term girlfriend and the mother of his child, Eva Cárdenas – director of upmarket interiors chain Zara Home – was 51 when she became pregnant, although she already had a child from an earlier relationship.
Sadly for Feijóo, his father passed away less than a year before he would have become a granddad, but Feijóo's mother had been pestering him for decades to make her a grandma and was said to be overjoyed to hear that her dream was at last about to come through.
Back in 2009, during a regional electoral campaign, Feijóo's mum was interviewed on TV, and famously stated: “He says he's married to Galicia. Yeah, that's all very well, son, but Galicia's not going to give me grandchildren.”
