ABSTRACT
With an unemployment rate over 20 per cent and following the passage of an economic austerity plan and the Prime Minister’s announcement that he would not he standing again, the local and regional elections of 22 May 2011 saw the incumbent Socialist Party obtain its worst results in the history of Spanish democracy and lose most of its municipal and regional power. In the Basque Country, Bildu, a coalition dominated by members of ETA’s political wing, obtained very high popular support. We comment on the context, the campaign and the results of the elections and then discuss the extent to which the results are due to the economic crisis.
