Spain’s Supreme Court barred hundreds of Basque independence candidates on Saturday from running in municipal elections this month on grounds they were successors to an outlawed Basque nationalist party. The state attorney this week challenged 249 lists of candidates standing in regional elections in the Basque country, alleging each contained one or more members of the Batasuna party, outlawed in March for failing to condemn violence by the separatist ETA guerrilla group. Justice Minister Jose Maria Michavila argued the lists contained candidates who were “clones” of Batasuna standing under new party names to circumvent the ban. He alleged that the 249 lists included 1,500 former Batasuna members. The Supreme Court said in a statement it had upheld the challenges over 241 of the lists, meaning those candidates could not participate in the May 25 municipal elections. Eight of the party lists were given clearance. Full Story
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