Odon Elorza González (born 4 April 1955) is a

Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left The Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (, , PSE-EE) is a social-democratic political party in the Basque Country that acts as the regional affiliate of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). History Although local ...

(PSE-EE) politician. He was a city councillor (1979–2011) and the mayor (1991–2011) of

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

. He was also a member of the

Basque Parliament The Basque Parliament (Basque language, Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish language, Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected ...

(1984–1991) and the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

(2011–).

Early life and local politics

Born in

, Basque Country, Elorza was first elected to his hometown's city council in 1979. From 1984 to 1991 he also sat in the

, where he specialised in the areas of housing, infrastructure and media. He left the autonomous body after his election on 20 June that year as the first Socialist mayor of the city. As mayor, Elorza led coalitions with the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party ( , EAJ; , PNV; , PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially the Basque National Party in English, is a Basque nationalist and regionalist political party. The party is located in the centre of the political spectrum. It has been de ...

United Left–Greens United Left–Greens (, EB–B) was a left wing environmentalist political party in Spain. Javier Madrazo led the party as general coordinator from 1994 to 2009. In the 1994 Basque elections EB won 93,291 votes (9.15%) and gained its first six ...

and Aralar, all of whom are

Basque nationalist Basque nationalism ( ; ; ) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since ...

. He himself took standpoints that were closer to nationalism than the official lines of his own

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE)-affiliated party, including criticising the proscription of the left-wing nationalist party

Batasuna Batasuna (; ) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. The party is included in the "European Union list of ...

. Some of the projects which were completed during Elorza's mayoralty included the

Kursaal Palace The Kursaal Congress Centre and Auditorium is a complex comprising several spaces: a great auditorium, many-use halls and exhibition halls. It was designed by Spain, Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, and is located in San Sebastián, Donostia-San Se ...

, the renovation of the

San Telmo Museoa San Telmo Museoa ( English: San Telmo Museum, or STM) is a museum of the Basque society located in Donostia-San Sebastián, addressing old and contemporary Basque culture, arts and history in a European, global context. It moved to its current l ...

, the repurposing of the Tabakalera tobacco factory as a cultural centre, and the

Anoeta Stadium Anoeta Stadium (), currently known as the Reale Arena for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain that was inaugurated in 1993. The stadium lies at the Anoeta Sports Complex, and is mostly used for ...

. In the May 2011 elections, Elorza's party's vote decreased by 15

percentage point A percentage point or percent point is the unit (measurement), unit for the difference (mathematics), arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points (altho ...

s as Juan Carlos Izagirre of

EH Bildu EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu (English language, English: 'Basque Country Gather' or 'Basque Country Unite'), is a Left-wing politics, left-wing, Basque nationalism, Basque nationalist and Separatism, pro-independence federation of poli ...

replaced him as mayor.

Congress of Deputies

In September 2011, Elorza was made his party's list leader in his home province of

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) 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 department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

for the

election in November, where he was successful. In October 2016, Elorza was one of 15 Socialist deputies who rebelled against the party line when the party abstained on the vote to invest

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

as prime minister, with the 15 instead choosing to vote against his investiture. In June 2017, he was voted to the PSOE's federal executive committee, as Secretary for Transparency and Participative Democracy.

Personal life

Elorza received the

Creu de Sant Jordi The Creu de Sant Jordi (, in English language, English 'St George's Cross') is one of the highest civil distinctions awarded in Catalonia (Spain), surpassed only in protocol by the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Gold Medal of the G ...

, the second-highest civil distinction of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, in 2006. As mayor of San Sebastián in October 2003, Elorza officiated as his PSE-EE ally in the city council, Ernesto Gasco, entered a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

with Iñigo Alonso, another PSE councillor from

Lasarte-Oria Lasarte-Oria is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, northern Spain. It was founded in 1986. It is estimated to have a population of around 19.000 people ...

. It was Spain's first same-sex union between elected politicians, and he also officiated two years later as the same couple became the first office-holders in a same-sex marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elorza, Odon 1955 births Living people Politicians from San Sebastián Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left politicians Mayors of places in the Basque Country Members of the 2nd Basque Parliament Members of the 3rd Basque Parliament Members of the 4th Basque Parliament Members of the 10th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 11th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain)