Álava
Álava or Araba Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see. Its capital city, Vitoria-Gasteiz, is the seat of the political main institutions of the autonomous community, it borders the Basque provinces of Biscay and Gipuzkoa to the north, the community of La Rioja to the south, the province of Burgos to the west and the community of Navarre to the east. The Enclave of Treviño, surrounded by Alavese territory, is however part of the province of Burgos, thus belonging to the autonomous community of Castile and León, not Álava, it is the largest of the three provinces in the Basque Autonomous Community in geographical terms, with 2,963 km2, but the least populated with 328,868 inhabitants. Built around the Roman mansion Alba located on the road ab Asturica Burdigalam, it has sometimes been argued the name may stem from that landmark. However, according to the Royal Academy of the Basque Language, the origin may be another: The name is first found on Muslim chronicles of the 8th century referring to the Alavese Plains, laua in old Basque with the Arab article added, developing into Spanish Álava and Basque Araba.
The province numbers 51 municipalities, a population of 315,525 inhabitants in an area of 3,037 km2, with an average of 104.50 inhabitants/km2. The vast majority of the population clusters in the capital city of Álava, Vitoria-Gasteiz, which serves as the capital of the Autonomous Community, but the remainder of the territory is sparsely inhabited with population nuclei distributed into seven counties: Añana. Álava is an inland territory and features a transitional climate between the humid, Atlantic neighbouring northern provinces and the dry and warmer lands south of the Ebro River. According to the relief and landscape characteristics, the territory is divided into five main zones: The Gorbea Foothills: Green hilly landscape; the Valleys: Low valleys, sparsely populated. The Plains: Heartland of Álava comprising Vitoria and Salvatierra-Agurain, with a central urban area and crop landscape prevailing around and bounded south and north by the Basque Mountains; the Alavese Mountains: Higher forest lands.
The Alavese Rioja: Oriented to the south on the left bank of the Ebro River, perfect for vineyards. Ayala: The area clustering around the Nervión River, with Amurrio and Laudio as its major towns; the region shows close bonds with an industrial landscape. Unlike Biscay and Gipuzkoa, but for Ayala and Aramaio, the waters of Álava pour into the Ebro and hence to the Mediterranean by means of two main waterways, i.e. the Zadorra and Bayas Rivers. In addition, the Zadorra Reservoir System harvests a big quantity of waters that supply not only the capital city but other major Basque towns and cities too, like Bilbao. While in 1950 agriculture and farming shaped the landscape of the territory, the trend shifted during the 60s and 70s on the grounds of a growing industrial activity in the Alavese Plains, with the main focus lying on the industrial estates of Vitoria-Gasteiz and, to a lesser extent, Salvatierra-Agurain and Araia. At the turn of the century, only 2% of the working Alavese people was in agriculture, while 60% was in the tertiary sector and 32% in manufacturing.
Industry associated with iron and metal developed earlier in the Atlantic area much in tune with Bilbao's economic dynamics, with droves of people flocking to and clustering in Amurrio and Laudio, which have since become the third and second main towns of Álava. List of rulers: Eylo, up to 866 Rodrigo c. 867–870, count of Castile Vela Jiménez 870–c. 887 Munio Velaz c. 887–c. 921 Álvaro Herraméliz c. 921–931 count of Cerezo and Lantarón Fernán González 931–970 count of Castile, Álava feudatary of Castile until 1030 García Fernández 970–995 Munio González 1030–1043 Fortunio Íñiguez 1043–1046 Munio Muñoz 1046–1060, Álava feudatary of Navarre, 1046–1085 Sancho Maceratiz 1046–1060 Ramiro 1060–1075 Marcelo 1075–1085 Lope Íñiguez 1085–?, Álava feudatary of Castile until 1123 Lope Díaz the White?–1093 Lope González 1093–1099 Lope Sánchez 1099–1114 Diego López I 1114–1123 Ladrón Íñiguez 1123–1158, Álava feudatary of Navarre until 1199 Vela Ladrón 1158–1175 Juan Velaz 1175–1181 Diego López II 1181–1187 Íñigo de Oriz 1187–1199 Diego López de Haro I 1199–1214, Álava feudatary of Castile until personal union of 1332 Lope Diaz de Haro I 1214–1240 Nuño González de Lara 1240–1252 Diego López de Haro II 1252–1274 Fernando de la Cerda 1274–1280 Lope Díaz II de Haro 1280–1288 Juan Alonso de Haro 1288–1310 Diego López de Salcedo 1310–1332The title is attributed to the Castilian kings after 1332.
The Arab invasion of the Ebro valley in the 8th century, many Christians of the Diocese of Calahorra sought refuge in areas further north free of Arab rule. The diocese called Álava or Armentaria was established in 870 on terrirory split off from the Diocese of Calahorra. From until the 11th century the names of several bishops of this see are recorded, the best known being the last, Fortún, who in 1072 went to Rome to argue before Pope Alexander II in defence of the Mozarabic Rite, which King Alfonso VI of León and Castile had decree
Basque nationalism
Basque nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation, promotes the political unity of the Basques. Since its inception in the late 19th century, Basque nationalism has included separatist movements. Basque nationalism, spanning three different regions in two states is "irredentist in nature" as it favors political unification of all the Basque-speaking provinces. Basque nationalism is rooted in Carlism and the loss, by the laws of 1839 and 1876, of the Ancien Régime relationship between the Spanish Basque provinces and the crown of Spain. During this period, the reactionary and the liberal brand of the pro-fueros movement pleaded for the maintenance of the fueros system and territorial autonomy against the centralizing pressures from liberal or conservative governments in Madrid; the Spanish government suppressed the fueros after the Third Carlist War. The fueros were the native decision making and justice system issued from consuetudinary law prevailing in the Basque territories and Pyrenees.
They are first recorded in the Kingdom of Navarre, confirming its charter system across the western Basque territories during the High Middle Ages. In the wake of Castile's conquest of Gipuzkoa, Álava and Durango, the fueros were ratified by the kings of Castile and acted as part of the Basque legal system dealing with matters regarding the political ties of the Basque districts with the crown; the Fueros guaranteed the Basques a separate position in Spain with their own tax and political status. While its corpus is extensive, prerogatives contained in them set out for one that Basques were not subject to direct levee to the Castilian army, although many volunteered; the native Basque institutions and laws were abolished in 1876 after the Third Carlist War, replaced by the Basque Economic Agreements. The levelling process with other Spanish regions disquieted the Basques. According to Sabino Arana's views, the Biscayan personality was being diluted in the idea of an exclusive Spanish nation fostered by centralist authorities in Madrid.
Arana was inspired by his brother Luis, a co-designer of the Basque flag ikurriña, a major nationalist figure after Sabino's death. Arana felt that not only the Basque personality was endangered but its former religious institutions, like Church or the Society of Jesus, which still spoke in Basque to its parishioners, unlike school or administration. Sabino characterized Catholicism as a sort of shelter for Basque personality; this became a point of contention with other personalities holding like views and clustering around Arana's manifesto Bizkaya por su independencia. Industrialist and prominent Basque nationalist Ramon de la Sota dismissed Sabino's positions of Catholicism as inherent to the national issue. In 1893, the Gamazada popular uprising erupted in Navarre against the breach by the Spanish government of several foundations of the treaties ending the Carlist Wars. Arana eagerly supported the Navarrese outbreak by participating; the widespread protest in Navarre sparked solidarity in Biscay.
In 1893, after a support meeting held in Gernika attended by pro-fueros personalities, a group led by Arana overtly blamed Spain for the current state of matters, going on to set a Spanish flag ablaze. This rebellion, called the Sanrocada, is held as the beginning of political Basque nationalism. In 1895, the Basque Nationalist Party was founded around Arana, his nationalism shifted from a focus on Biscay to the rest of Basque territories. The program of Arana was specified as follows: The Basques represent a nation, with their own history and culture; this nation consists of language and an own political system. The liberty of Euzkadi has been destroyed by France and by Spain, who subjugated by force the different Basque territories, including the former Kingdom of Navarre’s territories, with the exception La Rioja, as well as Lapurdi and Zuberoa; as a consequence of the lack of independence of the country, the country has a political despondency, which has its last expression in the suppression of the Basque Traditional Laws and its own institutional system, the economic submission towards France and Spain, the disappearance of the signs of identity.
The solution to all these problems is to restore independence, by breaking the political ties with France and Spain, the construction of a Basque state with its own sovereignty. By the end of the 19th century, Arana differed from the Carlists, his initial background, he accompanied his views with an ideology centred on the purity of the Basque race and its alleged moral supremacy over other Spaniards, deep opposition to the mass-immigration of other Spaniards to the Basque Country. The immigration had started after the boom of manufacturing related to the ore exportation to England and privatization of communal lands and exploitations as the fueros were lost. Arana died in 1903 months after releasing a controversial manifesto renouncing his former tenets while in prison for supporting Cuban independence, just months after the Basque leader congratulated US president Theodore Roosevelt for its support to Cuba; the nature of that document is still subject to discussion. Luis Arana took the reins of the Basque Nationalist Party.
In the early 20th century, Basque nationalism, developed from a nucleus of enthusiasts (
Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left
The Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left is a social-democratic political party in the Basque Country that acts as the regional affiliate of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. Although local Socialist groups had been active since 1886, many affiliated with the PSOE, the PSE was established as a branch of the main party only in 1977, during the Spanish transition to democracy, initiated by King Juan Carlos I of Spain. During the violent years of the 1980s in the Basque Country, mid- and high-ranking party officials held government positions in Spain and the region, as civil governors; the Basque nationalist left—Herri Batasuna and related groups—denounced during that period the collusion of the party with police abuses—especially pointing to the Guardia Civil—and in early 1984 blamed directly the Socialists for the state terrorism of the GAL death squads. In early 1990s some of them were convicted for their participation in it. Ricardo Damborenea, head of the party in Biscay confessed in a press release to his involvement in the criminal pursuit in the early 1990s.
All of them have been released from prison much earlier than their due term without apologising for their illegal actions. It has local associations in Gipuzkoa, Álava. Before June 1982, it included a Navarre branch - which formed the Socialist Party of Navarre, PSN. In a close alliance with the Basque Country Left, a party connected with Basque nationalism, begun in 1991 with a move promoted by the respective secretaries - Ramón Jáuregui for the PSE and Mario Onaindia for the EE, it aimed to become the major Basque force in the 1993 election. The fusion of the two groups was made possible by the split of Basque Left from EE: prepared by the leadership of Nicolás Redondo Terreros, it was confirmed with the mandate of Patxi López in 2002. During the 2012 elections to the parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community, the PSE-EE came up third in number of MPs, lagging behind the Basque Nationalist Party and EH Bildu. Throughout its recent history, it fluctuated between second and third, depending on the success of the People's Party or the Abertzale Left).
Official website
Speaker (politics)
The speaker of a deliberative assembly a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England; the speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to discipline members who break the procedures of the chamber or house; the speaker also represents the body in person, as the voice of the body in ceremonial and some other situations. The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerford in the Parliament of England. By convention, speakers are addressed in Parliament as'Mister Speaker', if a man, or'Madam Speaker', if a woman. In other cultures other styles are used being equivalents of English "chairman" or "president". Many bodies have a speaker pro tempore, designated to fill in when the speaker is not available; the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Australian House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia.
The President of the Senate is the presiding officer of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Parliament. In Canada, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the individual elected to preside over the House of Commons, the elected lower house; the speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow MPs. The Speaker's role in presiding over Canada's House of Commons is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in other countries that use the Westminster system; the Speaker does not vote except in the case of a tie. By convention, if required to vote, the Speaker will vote in favour of continuing debate on a matter, but will not vote for a measure to be approved; the Speaker of the Senate of Canada is the presiding officer of the Senate of Canada, the appointed upper house. The Speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of parliamentary procedure and parliamentary privilege, presides over debates and voting in the "Red Chamber".
The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General of Canada from amongst sitting senators upon the advice of the Prime Minister. The Speaker has a vote on all matters. In the event of a tie, the matter fails. At the provincial level, the presiding officer of the provincial legislatures is called the "Speaker" in all provinces except Quebec, where the term "President" is used; the presiding officer fulfills the same role as the Speaker of the House of Commons. Parliamentarism in Italy is centered on the Presidents of the two Houses, vested in defense of the members and of the assembly as a whole. Now constitutional community highlights changes in this role. In Singapore, the Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore is the head officer of the country's legislature. By recent tradition, the Prime Minister nominates a person, who may or may not be an elected Member of Parliament, for the role; the person's name is proposed and seconded by the MPs, before being elected as Speaker. The Constitution states.
While the Speaker does not have to be an elected MP, they must possess the qualifications to stand for election as an MP as provided for in the Constitution. The Speaker cannot be a Cabinet Minister or Parliamentary Secretary, must resign from those positions prior to being elected as Speaker; the Speaker is one of the few public sector roles which allow its office-holder to automatically qualify as a candidate in the Singapore presidential elections. The Speaker is the individual elected to preside over the elected House of Commons; the speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow MPs. The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer of the House of Lords; the used "Speaker of the House of Lords" is not correct. The presiding officer of the House of Lords was until the Lord Chancellor, a member of the government and the head of the judicial branch; the Lord Chancellor did not have the same authority to discipline members of the Lords that the speaker of the Commons has in that house.
The Lord Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Lords and is expected to be politically impartial. Both chambers of the United States Congress have a presiding officer defined by the United States Constitution; the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives presides over the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives, is elected to that position by the entire House membership. Unlike in Commonwealth realms, the position is partisan, the Speaker plays an important part in running the House and advancing a political platform; the Vice President of the United States, as provided by the United States Constitution formally presides over the upper house, the Senate. In practice, the Vice President has a rare presence in Congress owing to responsibilities in the Executive branch and the fact that the Vice President may only vote to break a tie. In the Vice President's absence, the presiding role is delegated to the most Senior member of the majority party, the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
Since the Senate's rules give little power to its non-member presider, the task of presiding over daily business is rotated among junior members of the majority party. In the forty-nine states that have a bicameral legislature, the highest leadership position in the
Next Basque regional election
The Next Basque regional election will be held no than Sunday, 25 October 2020, to elect the 12th Parliament of the Basque Autonomous Community. All 75 seats in the Parliament will be up for election; the Basque Parliament is the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of the Basque Country, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Basque Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a Lehendakari. Voting for the Parliament is on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprises all nationals over eighteen, registered in the Basque Country and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Basques abroad are required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote; the 75 members of the Basque Parliament are elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of 3 percent of valid votes—which includes blank ballots—being applied in each constituency.
Parties not reaching the threshold are not taken into consideration for seat distribution. Additionally, the use of the D'Hondt method may result in an effective threshold over three percent, depending on the district magnitude; each constituency is allocated a fixed number of 25 seats each, to provide for an equal representation of the three provinces in Parliament as required under the regional Statute of Autonomy. This meant that Álava was allocated the same number of seats as Biscay and Gipuzkoa, despite their populations being, as of 1 January 2017: 323,978, 1,134,519 and 709,209, respectively; the electoral law provides that parties, federations and groupings of electors are allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors are required to secure the signature of at least 1 percent of the electors registered in the constituency for which they are seeking election. Electors are barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election are required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.
The term of the Basque Parliament expires four years after the date of its previous election, unless it is dissolved earlier. The election Decree shall be issued no than the twenty-fifth day prior to the date of expiry of parliament and published on the following day in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country, with election day taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication; the previous election was held on 25 September 2016, which means that the legislature's term will expire on 25 September 2020. The election Decree shall be published no than 1 September 2020, with the election taking place on the fifty-fourth day from publication, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Sunday, 20 October 2020; the Lehendakari has the prerogative to dissolve the Basque Parliament at any given time and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence is in process. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a Lehendakari within a sixty-day period from the Parliament re-assembly, the Parliament is to be dissolved and a fresh election called.
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which will contest the election: In August 2018, Pili Zabala, the leader of Elkarrekin Podemos, announced that she would not seek reelection and would leave politics by the end of the legislature. The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead; the highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages; the "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 38 seats are required for an absolute majority in the Basque Parliament.
Opinion poll sources Other
Gernikako Arbola
Gernikako Arbola is an oak tree that symbolizes traditional freedoms for the Biscayan people, by extension for the Basque people as a whole. The Lords of Biscay swore to respect the Biscayan liberties under it, the modern Lehendakari of the Basque Country swears his charge there. In the Middle Ages, representatives of the villages of Biscay would hold assemblies under local big trees; as time passed, the role of separate assemblies was superseded by the Guernica Assembly in 1512, its oak would acquire a symbolic meaning, with actual assemblies being held in a purpose-built hermitage-house. It was the Spanish regent Maria Christina accompanied by her infant daughter Queen Isabella II the last Spanish monarch to swear an oath to the charters under the iconic oak in 1839; the known specimens form a dynasty: "the father", planted in the 14th century, lasted 450 years the "old tree", re-planted in 1811. The trunk now is held in a templet in the surrounding garden; the third, re-planted in 1860, survived the Bombing of Guernica in 1937 but had to be replaced because of a fungus.
The gardeners of the Biscayan government keep several spare trees grown from the tree's acorns. The fourth was replanted on the site of its father on 25 February 2005, it died of a humidity related disease on 15 January 2015. The fifth was planted in March 2015, aged 14; the tree's significance is illustrated by an event which occurred shortly after the Guernica bombings. When the Francoist troops took the town, the Tercio of Begoña, formed by Carlist volunteers from Biscay, put an armed guard around the tree to protect it against the Falangists, who had wanted to fell this symbol of Basque nationalism. An oak tree is depicted on the heraldic arms of Biscay and subsequently on the arms of many of the towns of Biscay. An oak leaf logo is being used by the local government of Biscay; the logo of the Basque nationalist party Eusko Alkartasuna has one half red and the other green, the colors of the Basque flag. An old version of the logo of the nationalist youth organisation Jarrai display oak leaves.
The Basque authorities present descendants of the tree as a symbol of friendship to Basque diaspora groups and related cities. Malato in Luiando, another tree of special significance for the Basques; the Abellaneda oak for the Encartaciones Juntas. The Gerediaga oak for the Durango area; the Aretxabalagana oak, where Biscaynes had to receive their lord when he came to put his oath on the fuero under the Gernika oak. Arbol de Gernika in the Spanish-language Auñamendi Encyclopedia. Tourism in the Basque Country Page on the tree at the site of the General Assemblies of Biscay. L'arbre de Guernica, a 1975 Surrealist film by Fernando Arrabal
Guernica
Guernica and Basque name Gernika, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is united in one municipality with neighbouring Lumo, as Gernika-Lumo; the population of the municipality is 16,224 as of 2009. Gernika is best known to those residing outside the Basque region as the scene of the April 26, 1937, Bombing of Guernica, one of the first aerial bombings by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe, it inspired the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso. This village is situated at 10m altitude, in the region of Busturialdea, in the valley of the Oka river, its mouth is known as Urdaibai's estuary's heart. Gernika borders on the following townships: North: Forua and Arratzu. East: Ajangiz South: Muxika West: Errigoiti The town of Guernica was founded by Count Tello on April 28, 1366, at the intersection of the road from Bermeo to Durango with the road from Bilbao to Elantxobe and Lekeitio; the strategic importance of the site was increased by the fact that it lay on a major river estuary, where vessels could dock at the port of Suso.
In time, it took on the typical shape of a Basque town, comprising a series of parallel streets and a transverse street called Santa María, with a church at each end of the built-up area. Life in the town became rigidly structured, with the aim being to preserve the privileges of the dominant middle classes; this pattern continued unaltered until the late 17th century. On a small hillock in the town, stands the Meeting House and the famous Tree of Gernika. By ancient tradition and indeed other peoples in Medieval Europe, held assemblies under a tree an oak, to discuss matters affecting the community. In Biscay, each administrative district had its appointed tree, but over the centuries, the Tree of Guernica acquired particular importance, it stood on a site known as Gernikazarra, beside a small shrine. The laws of Biscay continued to be drawn up under this tree until 1876, with each town and village in the province sending two representatives to the sessions, known as General Assemblies; this early form of democracy was recorded by the philosopher Rousseau, by the poet Wordsworth, by the dramatist Tirso de Molina and by the composer Iparragirre, who wrote the piece called Gernikako Arbola.
When the Domain of Biscay was incorporated into the kingdom of Castile, the king of Castile visited Guernica and swore an oath under the Tree promising to uphold the fueros or local laws of Biscay. The oath of King Ferdinand, known as the "Catholic Monarch", on June 30, 1476, is depicted in a painting by Francisco de Mendieta popularly known as El besamanos. On July 3, 1875, during the Carlist Wars, the pretender to the throne Don Carlos of the house of Hapsburg visited Guernica and swore the oath. Throughout the 19th century, there were frequent meetings under the Tree, including both General Assemblies and other political events. By the 18th century, there was a square at the centre of the town, flanked by the town hall, a public gaol housing prisoners from all over the Lordship of Biscay, a hospital and a poor-house for local people. Day-to-day life comprised agriculture and trade; this was a time of continual conflicts with the neighbouring parish of Lumo over disputed land. These disputes were not settled until 1882, when the two parishes joined together to form Gernika-Lumo.
The first industrial concerns were set up in the early years of the 20th century. This encouraged population growth, the town grew from 4,500 inhabitants in 1920 to 6,000 in 1936. On April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, Guernica was the scene of the Bombing of Guernica by the Condor Legion of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria. According to official Basque figures, 1,654 civilians were killed, but German sources report a round figure of 300 civilians killed in the bombing, according to the German Bundeswehr Magazine; the raid was requested by Francisco Franco to aid in his overthrowing the Basque Government and the Spanish Republican government. The town was devastated, though the Oak of Guernica survived; the Bombing of Guernica is considered to be the beginning of the Luftwaffe doctrine of terror bombing, where civilian targets were selected to demoralize the enemy. Pablo Picasso painted his famous Guernica painting to commemorate the horrors of the bombing and René Iché made a violent sculpture the day after the bombing.
The bombing went on continuously for three hours. Celebrations were staged in 1966 to mark the 600th anniversary of the founding of the town; as part of these celebrations, a statue of Count Tello, made by local sculptor Agustín Herranz, was set up in the Fueros square. At present, Gernika-Lumo has 16,244 inhabitants, it is a town with a prosperous service sector, is home to industrial companies, as well as good cultural and educational amenities. Guernica is the seat of the parliament of the province of Biscay, whose executive branch is located in nearby Bilbao. In prior centuries, Lumo had been the meeting place of the traditional Biscayan assembly, Urduña and chartered towns like Guernica were under the direct authority of the Lord of Biscay, Enkarterri and the Durango area had separate assemblies. All would hold assemblies under local big trees; as time passed, the role of separate assemblies was superseded by the single assembly in Guernica, by 1512, its oak, known as the Gernikako Arbola
Elections and referendums in the Basque Country