Gorka Urtaran Agirre (born 21 December 1973) [1] is a Spanish politician of the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV). He served as mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz from 2015 to 2023.
Urtaran was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava. His mother, María Jesús Agirre, was a Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV) politician who was deputy mayor of the city during the mandate of José Ángel Cuerda and a member of the Congress of Deputies from 1995 to 1997. [2] He graduated in Sociology from the University of the Basque Country, where he studied at its Leioa campus and wrote a postgraduate thesis on migration. [3]
After being a civil servant in the Vitoria-Gasteiz Department of Social Intervention, Urtaran served in his province's Juntas Generales from 2007 to 2011. [3] In December 2010, he was confirmed as the EAJ-PNV candidate for mayor in the next year's elections. [4] His party came second to the People's Party (PP), whose leader Javier Maroto was invested as mayor. [5] Four years later, the EAJ-PNV lost a seat and fell to third behind the PP and EH Bildu, but Urtaran was invested as mayor with the votes of his party, EH Bildu and two smaller groups. [6] In 2019, he won a second term with the support of the Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE-EE). [7] He did not stand for reelection in 2023. [8]