Patxi López

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is López and the second or maternal family name is Álvarez.

The Most Excellent Francisco Javier López Álvarez
File:El lehendakari Patxi López (4 de mayo de 2010).jpg López in Leioa, 2010
President of the Congress of Deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 January 2016
Preceded by	Jesús Posada
Lehendakari of the Basque Country
In office 7 May 2009 – 15 December 2012
Preceded by	Juan Jose Ibarretxe
Succeeded by	Iñigo Urkullu
Member of the Basque Parliament
In office 15 March 1991 – 22 September 2014
Constituency	Vizcaya
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office 17 November 1987 – 2 September 1989
Constituency	Vizcaya
Personal details
Born	Francisco Javier López Álvarez (1959-10-04) 4 October 1959 Portugalete, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Political party	PSE-EE
Spouse(s)	Begoña Gil
Website	www.patxilopez.com

Francisco Javier "Patxi" López Álvarez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpatʃi ˈlopeθ]; born 4 October 1959) is a Spanish socialist politician, the current President of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish Cortes Generales. He is also the former president of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. He was the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of Euskadi - Euskadiko Ezkerra (PSE-EE) from 2002 to 2014, which is the Basque affiliate of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).

López, born into a socialist family, was influenced early in life by the political stance of his father, Eduardo López Albizu, a prominent Spanish left-wing anti-Francoist activist. He joined the Young Basque Socialist movement in 1975, and was its Secretary-General from 1985 to 1988. He joined PSE in 1977, and was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies at the 1986 General Election representing Vizcaya Province. In the PSE he rose steadily to prominence before being elected Secretary-General in 1997, having become a Member of the Basque Parliament in 1991.

López is known for his opposition to Basque independence. In 2005, he was the PSE-EE's candidate for the presidency of the Basque Country, but lost out to Juan José Ibarretxe of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).

In the 2009 election, the Nationalist Party was the party with the most votes with 30 seats, followed by the Socialist Party, with 25 seats. The illegalisation of a party representing a sizeable voting segment, the Left Basque Nationalist Party Batasuna enabled the socialists to reach an agreement with the People's Party for López to be elected as Lehendakari (Basque president). He was elected to the position on May 5, 2009 in the Basque Parliament, effectively ending thirty years of Basque nationalist rule in the Basque Country, in what was perceived as a very polemic election due to the absence of any party representing the secessionist Left Basque Nationalist spectrum.

On 13 January 2016, he was elected President of the Congress of Deputies for the eleventh legislature, with 130 votes (the deputies of PSOE and Citizens) out of 350.

External links

• Patxi López Blog

Preceded by Juan José Ibarretxe

Lehendakari of the Basque Country 2009–2012

Succeeded by Iñigo Urkullu