Nationalists win control in Basque region election

Spain's restive northern Basque country has dealt a severe blow to the Madrid government by returning an overwhelming majority of nationalists to its first home-rule Parliament. Official results from Sunday's elections in the three Spanish Basque provinces showed nationalist parties together won 42 of the 60 seats in the new regional assembly. The elections, ending 40 years of direct rule from Madrid, were a crushing defeat for Spain's governing party, the Union of the Democratic Center (UCD), which managed only six seats.

The clear victory of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), with 25 seats, seemed certain to increase pressure on Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez to speed up the transfer of powers to the region.