Valencian Nationalist Bloc

The Valencian Nationalist Bloc ( or BNV; ) was a Valencian nationalist party in the Valencian Country, Spain. It was the largest party in the Coalició Compromís until 2021, when it was replaced in a refoundation process by Més–Compromís. History The Bloc was formed in 1998 as a result of the federation of several parties in a coalition formed for the 1995 regional elections. That group of parties was headed by Unitat del Poble Valencià (UPV, founded in 1982) which is the main predecessor of the current Bloc, together with other smaller parties, often locally based, such as the Valencian Nationalist Party (1990) or Alcoi Nationalists (1994). The Bloc has historically defined itself as a left-wing party. This position shifted to a centrist or center-left position in the late nineties, as part of a strategy to appeal to a broader audience known as tercera via (third way). This strategy proved unsuccessful, especially due to their failure to attract enough of the regionalist vote in the 2003 regional elections. Then, for the 2007 Valencian regional elections to the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament, the Bloc returned to a more left wing agenda as it ran in coalition with EUPV, the Valencian branch of Izquierda Unida, a coalition whose main member is the Communist Party (PCE). This coalition operated under the name of Compromís pel País Valencià. Compromís' results (seven seats) did not achieve their goal of growing and forming a front alongside the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) to oust the Partido Popular from the regional government. Still, they allowed Bloc to enter the autonomous Parliament (two seats) and secured EUPV representation as well (the remaining five seats). However, a schism occurred soon after within the EUPV between the two more nationalist and social democratic MPs on the one side and the more communist and less nationalist remaining three members on the other. The former MPs were finally expelled from EUPV and went on to create a new party Iniciativa del Poble Valencià (Valencian People Initiative). In turn, they allied themselves with the Bloc, thus effectively gaining a majority for the nationalists in the coalition, while creating a climate of frigid relations between EUPV and Bloc for the remainder of the term, making the renewal of the pact for future polls unlikely in the short term.