BILBAO (Reuters) - Basque separatist guerrillas ETA called on Saturday for a boycott of a parliamentary election on March 9 in protest against what it called repression by the Spanish government.
In a statement published in Basque newspaper Gara, ETAaccused the government of carrying out a campaign of arrests,imprisonments and bans on political parties.
The call is unlikely to have much of an influence on voterturnout because most Basques reject ETA violence, and amajority do not want independence from Spain, according topolls.
The guerrillas have killed more than 800 people in fourdecades of armed struggle seeking independence for ancestralBasque lands in northern Spain and southern France.
ETA's statement came one day after a bomb exploded outsidethe headquarters of Spain's ruling Socialist Party in thenorthern town of Derio after a warning telephone call in thename of ETA. No one was injured, but the explosion damagedbuildings in the area in the early hours of Friday morning.
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero facescriticism over failed ETA peace talks and has launched acrackdown on the Basque separatist rebels and their allies.
The Spanish High Court banned two Basque parties for threeyears last month because of their links to ETA, preventing themfrom taking part in the election.
Zapatero's ruling Socialist Party holds a lead over theopposition conservatives, the latest polls showed. One Gesoppoll printed in newspaper El Periodico on Thursday showed theSocialists with 42.5 percent support, a lead of 5.5 percentagepoints.
Another poll printed in the left-wing newspaper Publico thesame day put the Socialists on 45.3 percent to 38.7 percent forthe Popular Party.
(Reporting by Arantza Goyoaga; Writing by Sonya Dowsett;Editing by Caroline Drees)
