Patxi López has become the first socialist and first non-nationalist ‘lehendakari’ (leader) of the Basque Country following a pact between the PSOE and PP.
López is only the sixth president of the Basque Executive in the past 73 years. His election follows the failure of the ANV to achieve an overall majority after the recent elections and he was supported by the 25 PSOE members, 13 PP members and 1 UPyD.
The other candidate, incumbent president Juan José Ibarretxe, received the votes of the 30 ANV members plus four Aralar members and the parliamentary representative of the EA. The EB party, as they had previously intimated, abstained from voting.
According to some reports, Patxi López has already become a prime target for ETA following his election victory.