Spain: Socialists about to gain power in Basque area

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Mixed results in Spain's regional elections

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- The incumbent Basque nationalists won the most seats in Basque regional parliamentary elections on Sunday, but they could lose a 29-year hold on power because three non-nationalist parties won a combined majority for the first time, according to official election results.

Socialist candidate Patxi Lopez speaks to reporters after voting Sunday in regional parliamentary elections.

The vote for the powerful 75-seat regional parliament and Basque president are seen as a bellwether of the region's sentiment on how to end decades of violence by the Basque separatist group ETA.

The moderate Basque Nationalist Party won 30 seats, and its traditional smaller party allies won seven more.

But the crucial 38-seat majority went to the Basque branches of Spain's ruling Socialist Party, with 24 seats; the conservative Popular Party, with 13 seats; and the new Progressive Union and Democracy party, with one seat, according to official results.

The Socialist candidate, Patxi Lopez, told supporters the vote "legitimized" his bid to "lead the change." Negotiations with other parties to make Lopez the next Basque president were expected in the coming days.

The non-nationalist parties have taken a forceful line on trying to end ETA's violence, blamed for nearly 800 deaths.

ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or "Basque Homeland and Liberty" in the Basque language. The group wants an independent Basque homeland, but is classified as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, because of car bombings and fatal shootings.

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The Basque Nationalist Party seeks self-determination for the 2.1 million Basques but does not support ETA's violence.

Some 600 ETA suspects or convicts are in Spanish jails, and three alleged top leaders of the group were arrested last year. But ETA has continued to defy officials -- bomb attacks, including a major blast that damaged a construction company office in Madrid three weeks ago, continue to be attributed to the group.