PNV Bilbao Candidate Mikel Hidalgo Marries His Partner

The PNV candidate for Bilbao marries his partner at 33

Is it still news that a politician marries his partner? Mikel Hidalgo, nominated by the PNV to succeed Juan Mari Aburto as mayor of Bilbao in next May's elections, said 'I do' to his boyfriend at 33. He announced it himself with a photo on Facebook, in Basque and Spanish: 'We will toast to many things. To the men and women who made it possible for us to get here.'

The advisory role that sparks suspicion

Young candidate, short career, and a government position. Hidalgo currently works as an advisor for coordinating social transition projects in the Basque government. The title, long and sonorous, has reactivated a suspicion circulating in forums: that institutional politics has been creating positions with increasingly long names for years. Some argue the PNV turns any newcomer with a known surname into a trusted position.

From Sabino Arana to rainbow flags: the PNV's shift

The wedding is also read as a thermometer for the party. Some analysts suggest the party founded by Sabino Arana has shifted in a quarter-century from upholding orthodoxy to competing in the social sphere. The candidate's surname—which, according to a forum comment, is the son of Iñaki Hidalgo, former deputy for Public Works—fuels the thesis of internal endogamy, according to which careers in the PNV are inherited as much as they are earned. In contrast, another reading argues that the public visibility of a candidate married to his boyfriend is exactly what a modern society should consider normal.

The photo, the toast, and a suit that, according to critics, was half-done due to haste remain. To test the narrative, we must wait until May. The ballot box does not understand rainbow flags.