Basques voted in parliamentary elections today in a test of voter sentiment about a plan for virtual independence from Spain.
The restive region of Spain, split between Basque nationalists seeking greater autonomy from Madrid and Spaniards who support territorial unity, will choose a new 75-member parliament.
The vote will indirectly measure support for Basque premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe's plan for virtual independence, a proposal he says will help end political violence but one that Madrid calls a violation of Spain's constitution.
Mr Ibarretxe's plan calls for a status of "free association" that would grant the Basque Country more control over taxation, the courts and its foreign relations, but stops short of a complete break with Spain.
The radical pro-independence party Batasuna was stricken from the ballot and banned as the political wing of ETA, Western Europe's most active guerrilla group.
Batasuna, which won 10 per cent of the vote in 2001, has thrown its support behind the Communist Party of the Basque Lands, a tiny, 3-year-old group hoping to capture some of the seven seats that Batasuna won four years ago.