Non-violent Basque party garners support in election

BILBAO, Spain - Moderate Basque nationalists won a key election yesterday in this picturesque region wracked by separatist violence, fending off a stiff challenge from parties opposed to independence from Spain.

The Basque Nationalist Party and its coalition partner Eusko Alkartasuna - which both favor peaceful moves for independence for this region in northeastern Spain - fell short of a majority in the regional Basque Parliament, but won the right to try to form a government.

With 99 percent of votes counted, the coalition won 32 seats, up from 27 in the outgoing 75-seat legislature, the Basque Electoral Commission said.

Euskal Herritarrok, considered the political wing of the armed separatist group ETA, saw its support drop sharply, from 14 seats to seven, indicating voters here want to move toward independence but not by violent means.

The Popular Party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, vehemently opposed to Basque independence, won 19 seats, and the Socialist Party, which is also against secession, took 14, the commission said - a combined one-seat increase over the 30 seats they held previously.

Turnout was a record 78 percent.

Thirty-eight seats are needed to control the 75-seat Parliament, so the nationalists will need support from another party, either the Socialists or Euskal Herritarrok.

Topping the electoral campaign was the issue of how to handle ETA, which has killed more than 800 people since 1968. Also up for debate was whether the wealthy region on the Atlantic coast should separate itself further from the central government in Madrid, 250 miles to the south.

The election for the regional parliament was seen as one of the most important since the tiny, three-province region achieved partial autonomy in 1979 following the end of Spain's dictatorship.