Once the municipal elections have been completed, the office of this institution will have to elect the president of the Commonwealth of Iparralde on 17 July. Although neither of them has officially confirmed their candidature, the mayor of the capital, Alain Iriart, has already announced that he is very keen to present himself and that the so far President of Baiona, Jean-René Etxegarai, could re-introduce himself. So, about twenty left abertzales felt the need to make their reading public through the letter they sent to Mediabask. Attendees included, inter alia, Xabi Larralde, Grazi Etxebehere, Mixel Berhokoirigoin, Daniel Olzomendi or Jasone Salaberria. The letter and the list of signatories can be read in full in Basque Kazeta.info.

“On the one hand, Jean René Etxegarai has the legitimacy of being one of the main founders of the Single Commonwealth of Iparralde, enabling the new institution that wants to go far to get involved in difficult and unbad conditions. Therefore, in our opinion, it has full legitimacy to follow this ‘half-three-year term’ to the end. On the other hand, the Left Basque and Environmentalist ideas have become an important and inescapable reality of the political landscape of Iparralde. They should therefore be replaced insofar as they are due in the instances of the Single Commonwealth of Iparralde. We are convinced that this is the sense of history and the most responsible behavior, so that Euskal Herria can effectively face the challenges of the gigantic ones that will be faced in the years to come.” This is the message that some twenty left and left abertzales have given. The sending of letters to Mediabask has been palatiated with the opinion on the presidential competition for the Commonwealth of Iparralde: Concerned about the way ahead and what remains to be done, the signatories of the letter see the need to reach an agreement between the two candidates.

The two militant candidates in BATERA

Alain Iriart is the elected Abertzale of EH Bai, Jean-Rene Etxegarai is centre-right and not nationalist. In spite of everything, both have been militating for years on the BATERA platform, among others, to obtain their own institution for Ipar Euskal Herria. The signatories to the Charter set out the following: “Despite the great advances that have been made in recent years, many of the works that are decisive for the Basque Country are the subject of consolidation and execution.” To this end, they call for "following the positive collective dynamic" and for avoiding competition between the two members of BATERA. In order to achieve an institution of special status, it is necessary to strengthen the bases of the Commonwealth of Iparralde; the shout of the official status of the Basque Country still unresolved; the implementation of the Public Entity for Agriculture and Food; the peace process… For all these axes of work, the signatories see the need to continue “with collective cohesion”. Moreover, the debate has focused on the climate emergency and the consequences of COVID-19 in the social and economic crisis.

Debates between Abertzales

On 17 July the vote of the President for the Commonwealth of Iparralde will be held. In the meantime, they still have to make their candidature public. During the remaining fifteen days there will still be an electoral environment in Zuberoa, Baja Navarra and Lapurdi. It is possible to envisage a debate among nationalists on what the night of the second round Hendaiarra Iker Elizalde made known to the Basque Media, because the coalition EH Bai has to reflect on the issue and it is still to see if "the reflections of Iriarte and EH Bai unite".