‘It will be Spain that prevents a referendum and the PNB that accepts it', Ezker Abertzalea sources are reported to have said. One of the nine Ezker Abertzalea deputies will vote in favour of the proposed referendum in order to break the current impasse in the Basque Parliament. It is now highly likely that the motion for a referendum on 25 October proposed by the Lehendakari, or President of Euskadi, Juan José Ibarretxe, will be approved by the Euskadi Parliament.

The news was reported in today's edition of the Gara newspaper, one day before the Basque chamber is due to hold an extraordinary session. The ‘abertzale' left will give one of its votes to support the proposal, despite claiming that "it will not be enough to transgress the current framework", with a view to highlighting "the authoritarian nature of the current constitutional framework and the fact that the PNB has no intention of going beyond it".

The Euskadi Parliament, then, is now divided into three groups: PNB, EA, EB, Aralar and one EHAK deputy will vote in favour of the referendum; the other eight EHAK deputies will abstain; and PP and PSE will vote against.

Ibarretxe wants to put a number of questions to the Basque public, including whether parties should negotiate an end to violence if ETA first demonstrates its intention to do so, and whether all Basque political parties should begin negotiations to reach a "democratic accord" on the right of the Basque people to exercise self-determination.

Everything suggests, however, that the Spanish Government will use the Constitutional Court to scrap the proposed referendum as early as tomorrow, as José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero has already promised to do on a number of occasions.

Further information:

• Gara: Fuentes de Ezker Abertzalea anuncian que "será España la que impida la consulta y el PNV quien lo acepte"
• EiTB24: EHAK dará un voto a favor para aprobar la consulta
• Público: La consulta de Ibarretxe saldrá adelante con un solo voto del PCTV