Voters are going to the polls today to elect a new autonomous parliament in the Basque region of northern Spain.

The election is being held one month after the armed Basque nationalist group, ETA, declared a ceasefire in its thirty-year war for independence.

The Spanish government postponed cross-party talks on the region's future until after the election but hasrefused to invite ETA's political wing, Herri Batasuna, to take part.

The moderate Basque Nationalist Party is expected to retain power but a BBC correspondent says the real battle is for second place between Herri Batasuna and Spain's two biggest parties, the Socialists and the Popular Party.