| President of the Basque government | |
|---|---|
| Eusko Jaurlaritzako lehendakaria | |
 Coat of arms of Basque Country | |
_(cropped).jpg) | |
| Style | Excelentísimo Señor (m), Excelentísima Señora (f) Jaun Txit Agurgarria (m), Andere Txit Agurgarria (f) |
| Residence | Ajuria Enea |
| Seat | Lehendakaritza,Vitoria-Gasteiz |
| Nominator | Basque Parliament |
| Appointer | The Monarch countersigned by thePrime Minister |
| Term length | Four years |
| Inaugural holder | José Antonio Aguirre |
| Formation | 6 October 1936 |
| Website | www.euskadi.eus/eusko-jaurlaritza/lehendakaritza/ |
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Statutes of Autonomy |
President |
Judiciary |
ThePresident of the Basque Government (Basque:Eusko Jaurlaritzako Lehendakaria, Spanish:Lehendakari del Gobierno Vasco), usually known in the Basque language as theLehendakari (Basque:lehendakari, Spanish:lendakari), is thehead of government of theBasque Autonomous Community. The lehendakari leads theexecutive branch of the regional government.
The current lehendakari isImanol Pradales, of theBasque Nationalist Party.
The Basque nounlehendakari means "president" and can refer to the president of any country, club, association etc.[1]
The termlehendakari is a 20th-century coinage, from the Basquelehendabizi ("first") and thesuffix -ari which indicates a profession. Before the establishment ofStandard Basque in the 1970s, it was spelledEuzko Jaurlaritzaren Lendakari. Bothlendakari (president) andjaurlaritza (government) are Basqueneologisms created by members of theBasque Nationalist Party.
The generic Basque words for "president" and "government" are bothlehendakari(a) andpresidente(a) for the former, andgobernu(a) for the latter, beingpresidente(a) andgobernu(a) words loaned fromLatin.
Since the very moment when the nounlehendakari was coined, bothlehendakari(a) andpresidente(a) have been used as perfect synonyms to refer to the head of any public or private government organ.[2] Solehendakari, in Basque language, is not only the name of the president of the Basque autonomous community,[3] but also the name officially used to refer to the head of the Chartered Community of Navarre,[4] the head of a parliament,[5] the head of a rugby club,[6] the head of a hiring board,[7] the head of a board of directors,[8] etcetera.
On the other hand, the wordlehendakari is commonly used in Spanish, both in and outside the Basque region, to refer exclusively to the Basque president, comparable to the use ofTaoiseach as the title of the Irishhead of government in English.
Lehendakaris elected for thePNV have sworn office following a ritual established by Aguirre: next to theGuernica Tree, on a Bible in Basque, using a symbolic formula which reads "before God, prostrated, standing on Basque land, remembering the ancestors, under the Guernica Tree and before you, representatives of the Basque people, I swear thus, to fulfill the mandate granted to me as Lehendakari, and will thus be duly protecting and respective of the laws of this land".
Former lehendakariPatxi López used a similar formula in the same place, but also included visible changes to it by suppressing the "before God, prostrated" part and the fact that he sworn on aBasque Statute of Autonomy rather than on a Bible.[9]
Departments of theBasque Government | ||
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Lehendakaritza (President's Office) | | |
