Patxi López

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Excelentísimo Señor/Jaun Txit Agurgarria
Don

Francisco Javier López Jauna
Patxi López in 2007
Lehendakari of the Basque Country
In office
7 May 2009  15 December 2012
Monarch Juan Carlos I
Preceded by Juan Jose Ibarretxe
Succeeded by Iñigo Urkullu
Member of the Basque Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 March 1991
Constituency Vizcaya
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office
17 November 1987  2 September 1989
Constituency Vizcaya
Personal details
Born Francisco Javier López Álvarez
(1959-10-04) October 4, 1959
Portugalete, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain
Nationality Spanish
Political party PSE-EE
Spouse(s) Begoña Gil
Website www.patxilopez.com

Francisco Javier "Patxi" López Álvarez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpatʃi ˈlopeθ]; born 4 October 1959) is a Spanish socialist politician and the former president of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. He is the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of Euskadi - Euskadiko Ezkerra (PSE-EE), which is the Basque affiliate of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).

López, born into a socialist family, was influenced early in life by the political stance of his father, Eduardo López Albizu, a prominent Spanish left-wing anti-Francoist activist. He joined the Young Basque Socialist movement in 1975, and was its Secretary-General from 1985 to 1988. He joined PSE in 1977, and was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies at the 1986 General Election representing Vizcaya Province. In the PSE he rose steadily to prominence before being elected Secretary-General in 1997, having become a Member of the Basque Parliament in 1991.

López is known for his opposition to Basque independence. In 2005, he was the PSE-EE's candidate for the presidency of the Basque Country, but lost out to Juan José Ibarretxe of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).

In the 2009 election, the Nationalist Party was the party with the most votes with 30 seats, followed by the Socialist Party, with 25 seats. The illegalisation of a party representing a sizeable voting segment, the Left Basque Nationalist Party Batasuna enabled the socialists to reach an agreement with the People's Party for López to be elected as Lehendakari (Basque president). He was elected to the position on May 5, 2009 in the Basque Parliament, effectively ending thirty years of Basque nationalist rule in the Basque Country, in what was perceived as a very polemic election due to the absence of any party representing the secessionist Left Basque Nationalist spectrum.[1]

References

External links

Preceded by
Juan José Ibarretxe
Lehendakari of Euskadi
(President of the Basque Country)

2009 - 2012
Succeeded by
Iñigo Urkullu
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.