Nekane Balluerka will no longer be the head of the UPV/EHU next November. In fact, the Ordiziarra assured in an interview with the Vocento group that it will not be presented to the elections to the Rectorado next November.

According to him, the crisis generated by COVID-19 has not influenced his decision and, after four years at the head of the Basque public university, he wants to re-teach his classes in the Faculty of Psychology, professor of Methodology of Behavioral Sciences.

Balluerka was elected Rector in November 2016, in place of Iñaki Goirizelaia, who has been appointed Counsellor. It is the only person to stand for office, with 66 per cent of the votes cast to date. Yes, from the census of 47,705 voters, only 12.59% of the voters went to these elections at the polls, in which only 5,866 people voted. The figures are even more serious if we look at student support: Only 1,074 of the 40,352 students voted in favour of Balluerka, which represents 2.6% of the total students. Abstention as a whole stood at 95% of the House’s votes.

On November 24, 2016, while schools were almost empty, students filled the Leioa campus with a great demonstration to reject the Rectorado elections. Several units of the Ertzaintza were on the spot and the Guardia Civil stopped the bus of the students who headed from the campus of Vitoria-Gasteiz to the manifestation of Leioa. During the mobilization, the Ertzaintza arrested a student and, since then, there have been strong incidents on the local campus.