EH Bildu and ERC renew their Senate coalition for the 29 November general election

The announcement

EH Bildu and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) announced on Saturday, 10 October, that they will renew the coalition they ran under for the Senate in the 2023 elections. In a joint statement, the two parties said the alliance aims to 'defend Euskal Herria and Catalunya and their social majorities'. LaSexta reported that the coalition will be ratified in the coming days. The vote is set for 29 November, and El Confidencial described it as an early general election.

The stated rationale

The parties framed the move as a response to the threat that a government of the 'reactionary bloc' in the state would pose. Their statement said that on 29 November 'there is a game to play' and that winning it is possible. According to the parties, collaboration in the Senate over recent years has shown the usefulness of a joint formula for defending the interests of both peoples and their social majorities. ABC reported that the union of forces has borne fruit over the last legislatures.

Housing and the Senate arithmetic

Both parties named the housing emergency as one of the main problems shared by the Basque Country and Catalonia, and committed to doing everything within their reach to guarantee the right to housing. The 29 November election will elect 208 of the Senate's 266 seats, while the remaining 58 are designated by regional parliaments. ABC reported that the Partido Popular starts with at least 23 designated senators, the PSOE with about 19 and Vox with 5. According to the same report, the PP would need at least 111 more seats to regain an absolute majority, and the PSOE would need 125 elected senators to reach one. EH Bildu and ERC each hold one designated seat in the chamber.