The
Valencian Nationalist Bloc (
Bloc Nacionalista Valencià,
BLOC or
BNV) is a Valencian nationalist party in the
Valencian CommunityThe Valencian Community is an Autonomous Community located in central and south-eastern Spain. It is divided into three provinces, from south to north: Alicante, Valencia and Castellón....
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
.
The BLOC's main aim is, as stated in their guidelines, "
to achieve full national sovereignty for the Valencian peopleThe Valencians are an ethnic group or nationality whose homeland is the Valencian Community, which is a historical region in south-eastern Spain. The official languages of Valencia are Catalan and Spanish . The Valencian Community is divided in three provinces, from South to North: Alicante,...
, legally declared by a Valencian sovereign Constitution which allows the possibility of association with the countries which share the same language, history and culture"
http://www.bloc.ws/index.php/bloc/extended-local/ponncia_destatuts_aprovada_al_iv_congrs_nacional_del_bloc/global/.
History
The
BNV was formed in 1998 as a result of the federation of several parties in a coalition formed for the
1995 regional electionsThe Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 1995 were the fourth democratic elections to the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament, since the death of the dictator Franco and were held on 28 May of that year...
. That group of parties was headed by Unitat del Poble Valencià (UPV, founded in 1982) which is the main predecessor of the current BLOC, together with other smaller parties, often locally based, such as the Valencian Nationalist Party (1990) or Alcoi Nationalists (1994).
The BLOC has historically defined itself as a left-wing party. This position shifted to a centrist or center-left position in the late nineties, as a part of a strategy to appeal to a broader audience.
Then, for the
2007 Valencian regional electionsThe Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 2007 were the most recent democratic elections to the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament and were held on 27 May of that year...
to the
Corts ValencianesThe Corts Valencianes are the main legislative body of the Generalitat Valenciana and therefore of the Valencian Community. The main location of the Corts is in the Palace of Benicarló in Valencia; however it can meet at any location in Valencian territory. The Corts has its origins in bodies...
, the Valencian regional parliament, the BLOC returned to a more left wing agenda as it ran in coalition with EUPV, the Valencian branch of Izquierda Unida, a coalition whose main member is the Spanish Communist Party
PCEPCE may stand for:In business and economics:*PCE *Personal consumption expenditures *Personal consumption expenditures price index...
). This coalition operated under the name of Compromís pel País Valencià. Compromís' results (seven seats) did not achieve their goal of growing and forming a front alongside the PSOE to oust the
Partido PopularThe People's Party is the main Right-wing political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation of the Popular Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship and a politician known to have relatively...
from the regional government, but allowed BLOC to enter the autonomous Parliament (two seats) and secured EUPV representation as well (the remaining 5 seats).
However, a schism occurred soon after within the EUPV between the 2 more nationalist and social democratic oriented MPs on the one side and the more communist and less nationalist remaining 3 members on the other. The former MPs were finally expelled from EUPV and went to create a new party Iniciativa del Poble Valencià IdPV (Valencian People Initiative). In turn, they allied themselves with the Bloc, thus effectively gaining a majority for the nationalists in the coalition while creating a climate of frigid relations between EUPV and BLOC for the remainder of the term which makes quite unlikely the renewal of the pact for future polls.
For the
2008 General electionLegislative elections for the Spanish Cortes Generales were held on March 9, 2008. The elections were for 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, and the 208 directly elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, determining the Prime Minister of Spain. The elections are commonly referred to as 9-M...
Bloc ran in coalition with other left wing and regional parties. However despite the fact that the list was headed by a sitting deputy,
Isaura NavarroIsaura Navarro Casillas is a Spanish politician and former member of the Spanish Parliament. She holds a law degree obtained from the University of Valencia and specialises in business and labour law with a focus on worker's rights, due to obtaining the relevant qualifications in 1997...
, their vote fell relative to 2004.
Representation
The BNV only runs elections held in the Valencian Community. Including its Unitat del Poble Valencià former era, it has historically polled at around 4% of the votes in elections for the Valencian regional parliament, with significantly lower figures when running at Spanish general elections in Valencia.
BLOC obtained its best result to date in the
2003 regional electionsThe Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 2003 were the sixth democratic elections to the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament, since the death of the dictator Franco and were held on 25 May of that year...
, with a 4.77%, just short of the 5% threshold to gain representation by itself.
This 5% electoral threshold required for a list to enter the Valencian Parliament has been traditionally an issue in Valencian politics due to the important consequences in terms of political alliances which would result if it was lowered to 3% (the most common threshold in Spanish regional Parliaments). If the threshold was thus lowered, BLOC would most likely enter the Parliament by itself, which, if the results permitted, could facilitate a big coalition PSOE-BLOC-EUPV to oust the
Partido PopularThe People's Party is the main Right-wing political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation of the Popular Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship and a politician known to have relatively...
(PP) from the
Valencian regional governmentThe Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organised....
. Currently, the PP is enjoying its third consecutive
absolute majorityAn absolute majority or majority of the entire membership is a voting basis which usually requires that more than half of all the members of a group must vote in favour of a proposition in order for it to be passed...
in this Parliament and claims the
Valencian CommunityThe Valencian Community is an Autonomous Community located in central and south-eastern Spain. It is divided into three provinces, from south to north: Alicante, Valencia and Castellón....
as one of its strongholds, having governed there since the
1995 electionsThe Elections to the Corts Valencianes, 1995 were the fourth democratic elections to the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament, since the death of the dictator Franco and were held on 28 May of that year...
.
Coalitions
This said, BLOC has been represented at the Valencian parliament twice, by means of a coalition with the Valencian branch of
United LeftThe United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 as several political organisations opposed Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...
.
Their first participation in this coalition was in 1987, under BLOC's "Unitat del Poble Valencià" (UPV) former name. According to the coalition pact, UPV was alloted two out of the six MPs. Internal tensions within the coalition and, especially, within the UPV, led to its disbanding. These events were the start of the process which led to the demise of UPV and its refoundation as BLOC.
Still, both parties (under new names, BLOC for UPV and Esquerra Unida del País Valencià, EUPV, for United Left) agreed to repeat their coalition for the 2007 regional elections, in order to secure if only joint representation, something which was at stake if they participated by themselves. This renewed coalition, called
Compromís pel País Valencià, indeed achieved representation with 7 MPs, two of which corresponded to BLOC according to the coalition pact rules. Internal disent plagued again the coalition, this time predating especially on its EUPV component, which has split since.
At municipalities
Support for the BLOC is higher at the local level, with 299 councillors and 21 mayors. Thus, it is the distant third major Valencian political party at the municipal level, far from the major parties, PP and PSPV-PSOE. The party is nearly absent in a number of areas in the Valencian Community (virtually all of those comarcas which are Spanish speaking only) while it is a major political agent in others, namely in its historic stronghold at the contiguous area formed by the northern most part of Alicante province and the southern most part of
ValenciaValencia is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community....
province.
International representation
For the
1999 European Parliament electionThe European Parliament election of 1999 in Spain was the election of the delegation from Spain to the European Parliament in 1999....
BNV allied with the Catalonia based Convergence and Union and the
Majorca Socialist PartyThe Majorca Socialist Party is a political party in Majorca, Spain. The PSM defines itself as socialist, environmentalist, and Catalan nationalist, from a Majorcan point of view....
with BNV leader Enric Morera third on the list. The coalition won two seats, however Morera briefly became a Euro MP in April 2004
The BNV joined the GalEusCa coalition in the
2004 European Parliament electionThe European Parliament election of 2004 in Spain was the election of MEP representing Spain constituency for the 2004-2009 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 2004 European election...
, with other nationalist parties from the Spanish state such as the
Basque Nationalist PartyThe Basque Nationalist Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...
, the Catalan
Convergence and UnionConvergence and Union is a political party in Catalonia, Spain.CiU is a federated political party consisting of two constituent parties, the bigger Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya and its smaller counterpart, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya .CiU is a Catalan nationalist party...
, the Galician Nationalist Bloc, and the Mallorcan Socialist Party. GalEusCa got 2 seats, neither of them for the BNV.
External links