Spain’s local election campaign ends today, and politicians of all stripes have had just one party’s name on their lips: Euskal Herria Bildu (EH Bildu).

A left-nationalist party in the Basque Country, EH Bildu has been at the center of a storm whipped up by the conservative Partido Popular and its far-right ally Vox. The two parties have decided to throw everything at a scaremongering offensive about EH Bildu’s list of local candidates, forty-four of whom (out of almost 4,500) have served prison sentences for crimes related to the activities of Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA), the armed-struggle organization that long fought for Basque independence.

ETA laid down its arms over a decade ago and ceased to exist in 2018. But resurrecting its ghost is a political attack aimed not just at EH Bildu, but primarily at Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez. Since January 2020 his Socialist Party (PSOE) has led Spain in a coalition with left-wing Unidas Podemos, but their administration has also relied on EH Bildu’s votes to pass key legislation. This is the pretext for furious frothing at the mouth from Spain’s post-fascist right wing: their debate during this campaign has centered on whether EH Bildu — the second-largest party in the Basque Parliament — should be made illegal.