The two parties have elected 27 deputies each, although the PNV has had more votes than the EH Bildu (35.24% and 32.45%, respectively, when almost 99% of the ballots were counted).

For the absolute majority, 38 seats are needed in the regional parliament, so the key to power is again in the socialist party (PSE-EE, regional structure of the Spanish socialist party, PSOE), which in the last legislature already integrated the coalition in the regional government, led by the PNV.

The socialist party, which was the third most voted in today's elections (14.2%) and obtained 12 deputies, guaranteed during the campaign that it would only make government agreements with the PNV again, leaving the EH Bildu without allies to try to form an executive.

Imanol Pradales, 49, who led the PNV candidacy, should thus be the new 'lehendakari', as the position of president of the Basque regional government is called.

According to official data from today's elections, the Popular Party (PP, right) elected seven deputies and had 9.23% of the votes; the Somar (left) got one deputy and 3.34% of the votes and the Vox (extreme right) got one deputy and had 2.04% of the votes.

There are currently 31 PNV deputies in the Basque parliament, 21 from EH Bildu, 10 from the socialists, six from Podemos (extreme left), one from VOX and one from Ciudadanos (liberal).

The PNV, center-right, has always been the most voted party in the Basque regional elections and, with the exception of a three-year period between 2009 and 2012, has also always been at the head of the autonomous government.

This hegemony was threatened for the first time in these elections by the growth of EH Bildu, a platform of left-wing independence parties that includes formations inherited from the former political arms of ETA, with former members of the terrorist group among its militants and leaders.

EH Bildu, which has the condemnation of violence with political objectives enshrined in its statutes, was born in 2012, with the end of ETA's activity and in the context of the financial crisis, having assumed itself from the beginning, and consolidated over these 12 years, as a party with social concerns, relegating identity issues or the independence of the Basque Country to a secondary level.

PNV and EH Bildu together obtained close to 70% of the votes today and the next regional parliament will be the most nationalist in the history of the Basque Country, after a campaign focused, essentially, on socioeconomic issues and coinciding with a moment when, according to all opinion polls, the desire for independence is at an all-time low among the Basques.

Read Also: Nationalists and independents tied in the elections in the Basque Country (Portuguese version)