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INPRIMATU
Iñaki Echaniz, winner of the fourth district
"The dynamic of the New Popular Front brings us a wind of hope"
  • Iñaki Echaniz has won the fourth constituency of Zuberoa, Nafarroa Beherea, Hazparne and part of Bearn. As in 2022, it has emerged victorious, on behalf of the New Popular Front on the left.
Jenofa Berhokoirigoin @Jenofa_B 2024ko uztailaren 08a

Let's start with your victory. What is your reading and feeling?

The joy, the feeling of having done a good job, that's what I feel. Having done almost 48% in a triangular is quite historic and we have won several bastions. It is the result of the work carried out and the coherence of the candidature presented jointly by the whole left, in this territory, in particular, with EH Bai. The dynamics of the New Popular Front FHB brings a wind of hope.

Mentioning EH Bai, Peio Dufau abertzale got the seat.

It is amazing news, I am very pleased, that the victory would not have had the same taste if it had not gone up to Paris with Colette Capdevielle and Peio Dufau. During the campaign we have had to face shameful statements, some political representatives have had harsh words about EH Bai and the left has become the extreme right. The results show us that voters have not followed. It is a moral and political failure.

Unity between all leftist parties and EH Bai is historic.

It is historical at the level of the Basque Country, also at the departmental level. It has been possible thanks to different components. For starters, it's the result of two years of built bridges. I am very proud to recall that Egoitz Urrutikoetxea and other Basque representatives were in the 2022 campaign office. We have worked together for two years, we have collaborated with the Basque parties. We have learned to get to know each other and to work together, and we have been able to put the interests of the territory above the political labels. Above all, we have been able to go beyond the confrontations of the past: we have to open a new political chapter, and perhaps a new book. I think we've been right to write a very good post.

The three deputies from Ipar Euskal Herria are from the FHB. However, we cannot deny that we also have a strong NB here.

We cannot ignore the vote in favour of racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and exclusionary ideas. And there are also people who complain, who are boring and who think RN can be a way out. The extreme right is a robbery, it has never been next to the popular and middle class, and it has no capacity to govern. The republican barriers provided, as well as their incapacity and the embarrassing statements of the candidate witnesses, have done much harm to the NB.

Did you expect the FHB victory or was it a surprise?

I knew we were going to play a hard game, but the truth is, I didn't think we could get such a win. It was a surprise and a great peace of mind.

Citizenship has been mobilized to cut the move to the extreme right, which has been stopped.

This is a campaign carried out by the public, in which there has been a popular wave. I have been helped by many militants, many of them from a party that they were not, never distributed leaflets in the markets. We have managed to convey the message from the Ossau valley to the Aldude valley, militarily.

How do we deal with the development of the extreme right?

We must resume dialogue, restore calm and propose solutions to the problems of citizenship, making it clear that we have no magic stick and no great promises. We have to manage, as soon as possible and gradually, to change the day to day of citizenship. Personally, I will do everything I can; we have a lot of work ahead, today everything begins.

However, HBV does not have an absolute majority. The situation seems complicated.

It is true that this is not the simplest situation. But I also know that we have the capacity to respond, we have a political and clear line, we will follow our programme. I also know that we have the ability to open ourselves beyond our political framework, always as far as social, fiscal and ecological justice is concerned. I have been in clear opposition for two years, but I have tabled a text with a majority Member: when the proposal for a law goes in the right direction, in principle it comes with the ability to build.

Some Macronists have positioned themselves in favor of a Republican majority without LFI France Submissive.

I am sorry to put France on the same level and on the extreme right. I've been working with LFI for two years, deep down, but mostly in form, we don't always agree, but there are very good people inside LFI. Although we do not share it in everything, we have the same ideological foundation. Voters have spoken, and now we go over political labels and we're going to take the program forward.