Unió Valenciana
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Unio Valenciana (Valencian Union) is a Spanish conservative and regional political party for residents of the region of Valencia. The party is most strongly associated with the tendency known in Valencia as Blaverismo which insists that Valencian language is different from the Catalan language and opposes the concept of "Països Catalans" or Catalan countries in English(which would cover the Valencian, Catalunyan and Balearic Islands communities.) The party is also firmly to the right on issues such as economics and has frequently formed an electoral pact with the larger right wing Partido Popular(PP).
The party was formed in 1982 and after an electoral pact with the PP in 1983, won between 5 and 7 seats in its own right in the regional elections of 1987, 1991 and 1995. The party suffered a blow in 1999 when its vote share of 4.76% was just short of the 5% threshold necessary to win seats in the Corts Valencianes and its vote share declined further in 2003. Consequently for the 2004 General Election the party revived its electoral pact with the Partido Popular and obtained a seat in the Senate held by José María Chiquillo.
Following acriminious internal elections Chiquillo quit the party generating a severe internal crisis which seems to have weakened the party still further. Joaquín Ballester Sanz, a councillor for the town of Paterna, is now the Party leader.