The Basque Parliament ( Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and the elected assembly to which the

Basque Government The Basque Government ( eu, Eusko Jaurlaritza, es, Gobierno Vasco) is the governing body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain. The head of the Basque government is known as the ''Lehendakari''. The Lehendakari is appointed by the Basque P ...

is responsible. The Parliament meets in the Basque capital,

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ), also alternatively spelled as Vittoria in old English-language sources, is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country and of the province of Álava in northern Spain. It holds the autonomous community' ...

, although the first session of the modern assembly, as constituted by the

Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country {{Politics of Basque Country (autonomous community) The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country of 1979 ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoko Estatutua; es, Estatuto de Autonomía del País Vasco), widely known as the Statute of Gernika ( eu, Gerni ...

, was held in

Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the m ...

– the symbolic centre of Basque freedoms – on 31 March 1980. Later in 1980 it started meeting at the premises of the Council of

Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álav ...

. In 1982, it got its own site in a former high school. The symbol of the Parliament is an oaken sculpture by Nestor Basterretxea representing a stylized tree, an allusion to the tradition of Basque political assemblies meeting under a tree, as in Guernica. It is composed of seventy-five deputies representing citizens from the three provinces of the Basque autonomous community. Each province (

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French de ...

and

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. ...

) elects the same number of deputies, despite their having very different levels of population. This was chosen to earn support from Álava and

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

, less populated territories. Still, Navarre did not join the autonomous community. The elections are held using

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

with seats allocated on a Provincial basis using the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highes ...

of allocation. To qualify for seats in a particular province, electoral lists must receive at least 3% of the votes cast in that province, including votes "en blanco" for "none of the above." From 1984 to 2001, the election threshold was 5% in each province. Sessions of the Basque Parliament are conducted in both Basque and Spanish, with translation services. The Parliament consists of 75 deputies elected by universal adult suffrage under a system of

Current composition

The last elections, held 12 July 2020, resulted in the following distribution of seats: * Partido Nacionalista Vasco (EAJ-PNV): 31 deputies (39.12% of popular vote) * Euskal Herria Bildu (EH Bildu): 21 deputies (27.84% of popular vote) * Partido Socialista de Euskadi-Euskadiko Ezkerra (PSE-EE / PSOE): 10 deputies (13.64% of popular vote) * Podemos-Izquierda Unida (Podemos-IU): 6 deputies (8.03% of popular vote) * Partido Popular + Ciudadanos (PP+Cs): 6 deputies (6.75% of popular vote) * Vox (Vox): 1 deputy (1.96% of popular vote) Parlamento vasco 3

References

External links

Official website of the Basque Parliament
(in Basque and Spanish) {{coord, 42.8452114605015, N, 2.6752781036616535, W, display=title

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

Legislatures of the Spanish Autonomous Communities

Current composition

See also

References

External links