Valencian Left
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Valencian Left (in Catalan: Esquerra Valenciana) is a historical nationalist Valencian left party founded on the 26th July, 1934 that advocated self-determination of the Valencian Country. Suppressed during the Francoist dictatorship, they were reformed on the 7th of April , 1998 by a group of ex-members of Unitat del Poble Valencià (Valencian People's Union) after that party reconstituted itself as the Bloc Nacionalista Valencià (Valencian Nationalist Group) (BNV). EV's current president is Robert Mora.
[edit] EV during the Second Spanish Republic
The party had it's origins in a split in Partit d'Unió Republicana Autonomista (Republican Autonomous Union Party), over disagreements on political strategy. The new organization promoted the idea of one confederation of Catalan speaking regions, which resulted in moves towards a merger with Esquerra Republicana del País Valencià (Republican Left of the Valencian Country), which were initially proposed by Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia) in 1933 in Castellón. The merger eventually took place in 1935 under the direction of personalities like Gaietà Huguet (ERPV ex-militant), Vicent Marco Miranda (ex-mayor of València), Josep Benedito, Miquel Duran de València and Manuel Sanchis-Guarner. Between 1935 and 1998 it is not possible to distinguish between the history of ERPV and EV since the first organization dissolved itself and its members joined from various parties in 1998 (see Esquerra Republicana del País Valencià for this period). After obtaining the election of Vicent Marco in 1936 in Valencia as part of the Frente Popular (People's Front) list, ERC and EV formed a joint parliamentary group in the Spanish Congress under the name of Esquerra Catalana (Catalan Left.) However, the Spanish Civil War halted various political projects in which EV had participated, the most important of which was a proposal for a Valencian statute of autonomy, under the official name of The Valencian Country. During the Civil war era, EV's membership peaked at around 10,000 members in 1937, with a significant number of members in the provinces of Valencia and Castellón, with many members in the southern lands of the Valencian Community.
[edit] Valencian Left during the democracy
After its dissolution during the Franco era, Esquerra Valenciana was refounded in 1998. It defined itself as a party "of the National, Republican Left of the The Valencian Country; that fights for political sovereignty and defends the free confederation of this territory with Catalonia and the Balearic Islands". In 2001 unsuccessful attempts were made towards a merger or alliance with Republican Left of the Valencian Country (ERPV). The agreement granted to the members of Valencian Esquerra (EV) a chair in the executive committee of ERPV for each 12 members who joined her. Later the new alliance would have stood under the designation EV-ERPV. EV took part in the 2003 Valencian Community elections as part of l'Entesa electoral coalition, together with Esquerra Unida and the Green Party of the Land of Valencia. Although l'Entesa obtained 6 deputies not one of them was a member of EV. In the European elections of 2004 they were part of the Europa dels Pobles (Europe of the People) list together with ERC, Aralar and Chunta Aragonesista (other regional parties of the Spanish state).
