Voters in Spain's Basque country began casting ballots for a new regional government today following a campaign overshadowed by renewed attacks blamed on the separatist group ETA.
Polling stations are open from 7 a.m. Some 1.8 million voters are eligible to select a new Basque parliament and regional president for the troubled region in northern Spain.
The official end of the campaign was marked by a car bomb that rocked central Madrid early yesterday, injuring more than a dozen people, including a bank security guard who was seriously wounded.
Throughout the campaign, the Basque country of northern Spain was largely free of violence, but a ruling party senator in neighbouring Aragon was shot dead on May 6th.
ETA has not claimed responsibility for the recent attacks - it normally waits weeks to do so - but the group has claimed 29 murders over the 16 months after it ended a unilateral ceasefire.