Edition: 525
The Supreme Court has banned hundreds of candidates from standing in local elections on May 27th in the Basque Country on the grounds that that they are connected to the armed terrorist group, ETA. The court ruled on Saturday that a little-known group, Abertzale Socialistak, was in fact a front for ETA's banned political wing, Batasuna. The court is still considering whether to ban another political group, Acción Nacional Vasca (Basque National Action) on the same grounds. Batasuna has been banned since 2003, but in 2001 won 10% of the vote in regional elections. The 246 supposedly apolitical "citizen lists" of Abertzale Socialistak were banned under a law preventing the continuation of a banned party. however, seven other independent lists will be allowed at the elections. ETA has assassinated nearly 900 people since it began its campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and south-west France nearly 40 years ago.
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