Spanish election authority forbids Arnaldo Otegi's participation in the Basque elections

The progressive, pro-sovereignty Basque coalitionof EH Bildu, elected Arnaldo Otegi as candidate for Lehendakari, President of the Basque Country Autonomous Community for the election on the 25th September.

Otegi was released from prison in March 2016, after serving a 6.5 years sentence for his role as driver of the unilateral peace strategy that brought the end of open confrontation in the Basque Country.

On the ruling against him, the court alleged that Otegi’s actions where not about peace but about receiving orders from ETA. The Constitutional Court ratified this decision in July 2014 on a much-disputed ruling when five out of the twelve Court Judges dissented asking for his release. The ECHR decided in November 2015 to adjourn the examination of the Arnaldo Otegi's complaint, which has still to be resolved.

In March 2015 an International Declaration for his release was launched in the European Parliament. The Declaration was originally endorsed by 24 International Personalities and was widely supported both in the Basque Country and abroad (see www.freeotegi.com).

The Spanish Attorney General asked the Election Authority to disqualify Arnaldo Otegi, based on an alleged special provision for public office. Indeed, the Authority decided yesterday not to allow the participation of Arnaldo Otegi to the elections for the Basque Parliament.

EFA President François Alfonsi, active in Corsica with the peace process on the island, thinks that the disqualification of Arnaldo Otegi is"bad news, for Europe, for democracy and for the Peace Process in the Basque Country". 

Mr. Alfonsi remarks that "disqualifying democratically elected candidates like this is disqualifying democracy altogether. Spain shows time and time again not to be a democracy. The main aim of Madrid is to discredit Otegi as a person and to divert the attention from the progressive and appealing program of EH Bildu."

 EFA, as European political party with its 46 member parties, expresses solidarity to both Arnaldo Otegi and the EH Bildu coalition and expects that the tribunals will eventually allow Otegi to be a candidate. EFA also notes that two of its member parties, Aralar and Eusko Alkartasuna, are part of EH Bildu.