The parties close the Basque election campaign

BILBAO, 18 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of the Government and leader of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun (Sumar), the general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, and the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, They supported their lehendakari candidates this Friday at the closing of the campaign for the April 21 elections. For his part, the president of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, has supported that of EH Bildu.

Five of the seven parties with parliamentary representation that are participating in these elections have held their last events of the electoral contest in Bilbao (PNV, EH Bildu, PSE-EE, Sumar and Elkarrekin Podemos), and two in Vitoria-Gasteiz, PP and Vox . This is how the last rallies of the electoral campaign have passed:

The leader of the PSOE has assured that it would be an "extraordinary pride" to see Andueza as Lehendakari and Salvador Illa (PSC) as President of the Generalitat, at the head of two governments in Euskadi and Catalonia. "Coexistence, progressive policies and stability do not fall from the sky, they come from the polls," he assured.

After considering that the Basque socialists "have won by a landslide" in this campaign, he thanked them for their work and told them to rest on Monday, but to remember that there are still the Catalan elections and the European Parliament.

In his opinion, the PSE-EE militants, "in the face of the resignation of some", have contributed "excitement and desire", and they have transmitted it to their candidate for the Lehendakaritza. "In the face of the hidden agenda of others, as Eneko said, you have shown your face, you have been transparent. People know perfectly well what you propose for Euskadi and, in the face of those who always insult, you have put solutions on the table for the problems of the Basques," he stressed.

For his part, Eneko Andueza has made a call to fill the ballot boxes on Sunday "with the fist and the rose" so that "plurality and social policies" win in the Basque Country, and not the "identity projects" that only "divide." . Furthermore, he has stated that "Euskadi needs to become socialist again" and has asked for the vote of those "disappointed" with the PNV, with Podemos and with Sumar.

After thanking Sánchez for accompanying the PSE-EE candidates for this "golden finale of this great electoral campaign", the candidate for the Lehendakaritza has expressed his conviction that on Sunday they are going to "give a surprise" with "a magnificent result" .

The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has asked for the vote of the "many" PNV supporters "who are not independentists" and of those socialists "embarrassed" by the current PSOE policy so that the Popular Party is "decisive" in the political future of Euskadi after the elections to the Basque Parliament this coming Sunday.

Feijóo, who accompanied the PP candidate for lehendakari, Javier de Andrés, in the closing of this party's campaign in Vitoria-Gasteiz, has reiterated his criticism of the Socialist Party for its agreements with EH Bildu.

In this way, he has denounced the "cynicism" of the PSE-EE, as well as the PNV, for "acting offended" after the EH Bildu candidate for lehendakari, Pello Otxandiano, has avoided classifying ETA as a terrorist organization in a recent radio interview to assure that it was an "armed group."

For his part, the PP candidate for lehendakari, Javier de Andrés, has closed the campaign by reiterating that the Popular Party is "the only alternative" to the PNV, EH Bildu and PSE-EE that "are the same product with different commercial brands ".

Furthermore, he has criticized that despite the fact that in recent days the candidates of PNV, EH Bildu and PSE "pretend to argue", in reality "their aspiration is to continue being friends after the 21st, and the only discussion is knowing who is left in front of".

The PNV candidate for lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, called at his party's campaign closing rally before hundreds of militants gathered in Bilbao's Arenal, to "all rally together" with the PNV to "not go backwards" and has warned that "it is the moment of truth", to give the vote to the jeltzale formation.

Pradales has begun his intervention by clarifying to his followers, who insistently ask him about his state of health, - after having been attacked last Tuesday with pepper spray by an individual when the candidate had just participated in a rally in Barakaldo -, that he is "well, strong" and on Sunday both he and Euskadi will be "better."

The Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, also spoke at the rally; the president of the Basque Parliament and head of the list for Gipuzkoa, Bakartxo Tejeria; and the head of the list for Álava, Joseba Díez Antxustegi, to close the event the president of the EBB, Andoni Ortuzar.

OTXANDIANO SAYS THAT "CHANGE IS ALREADY HERE"

EH Bildu's candidate for Lehendakari, Pello Otxandiano, has stated that the change they defend "is already here", and has been convinced that this coming Sunday in the Basque elections they will achieve "the best results" in their history. "This Sunday Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa are going to express that desire for change and I am not going to fail those expectations, that desire for change," he remarked.

Otxandiano carried out these demonstrations at the closing of the EH Bildu electoral campaign that took place in the Plaza Nueva in Bilbao, where the general coordinator, Arnaldo Otegi, and the candidate for Bizkaia, Oihana Etxebarrieta, also participated, along with the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, and the finance minister of the north of Ireland, Conor Murphy.

In his speech, Otxandiano stated that EH Bidu decided to face these elections without "opting for the short bargain, for conventional politics" to make "stages and distort" the opponent's proposals.

VOX: "NATIONAL UNITY AND BASQUE IDENTITY ARE IN CHECK"

The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has warned that "the national unity and the very identity of the Basques is in check due to the weakness of the national parties", and has criticized that this Sunday "the first two forces that dispute the victory are two separatist forces legitimized by the Spanish political parties". Furthermore, he believes that these elections "are a lie to Basque society" on the part of "three parties that are governing together in Madrid and come here to have a little fight."

Vox held the campaign closing ceremony in the Plaza de los Fueros in Vitoria-Gasteiz, in which Abascal was accompanied by the party's general secretary, Ignacio Garriga; and the Vox candidates for Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.

In his speech, Abascal warned that "the national unity and the very identity of the Basques are in check due to the weakness of the national parties" and defended that "the Basque Country is a region of Spain."

The Minister of Culture and spokesman for Sumar, Ernest Urtasun, has stressed that "the key to a left-wing government lies" in Sumar "being strong" in the next Basque Parliament and, in this sense, he has asked citizens to " "do not disperse the vote of the transformative left" and that they do not support the PSE-EE so that it "hands over the key of the Government to the PNV."

Along the same lines, the candidate for lehendakari, Alba García, has appealed to "not lose a single vote" in this Sunday's elections to achieve a "strong" Sumar, which will allow us not to have a "bound" government of jeltzales and socialists. by the PP.

The coalition made up of Sumar Mugimendua, Ezker Anitza-IU, Berdeak Equo and Más Euskadi-Euskadi Eraiki has closed the Basque election campaign with an event in the Plaza de la Encarnación in the Bilbao neighborhood of Atxuri, in which Alba García, has She was accompanied by the Minister of Culture and spokesperson for Sumar, Ernest Urtasun. The heads of the list for Álava, Jon Hernández, and Gipuzkoa, Andeka Larrea, among other representatives of Sumar, also participated in the event.

The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has extended her hand to EH Bildu to build together "a left-wing governability" and has warned that things cannot be changed in Euskadi with a PNV that has "a corrupt culture" and whose ' modes operandi' is "clientelism."

In her speech, Belarra called on the Elkarrekin Podemos militancy to "remind everyone that the PNV does not rule here, the people rule." And for this reason, he added, "Basques have to go vote, decide their future and decide on a fairer Euskadi."

Likewise, the candidate Miren Gorrotxategi has asked the undecided and "all people who are left-wing" to vote for Elkarrekin Podemos to "have left-wing governments."

In his speech, Gorrotxategi, who thanked the work of the militancy, the technical teams "necessary to sustain the campaign" and the communication and production teams, said that this campaign has been very long, hard and difficult, but also very exciting".