Our correspondent says these are the most important elections in more than 20 years

The election is the first since the Basque separatist group, ETA, declared a ceasefire last month and is being seen as a key step towards ending 30 years of separatist conflict.

Turn-out was said to be high, and exit polls suggest that the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) has won more than a quarter of the vote.

PNV leader, Juan Jose Ibarreche - his party set to win again

The party, led by Juan Jose Ibarretxe, has been in power in the Basque region of northern Spain for the past 18 years.

Like ETA's political wing, Herri Batasuna, the Basque Nationalist Party favours independence for the Basque region but has always rejected the use of violence.

Euskal Herritarrok (EH) - the name under which ETA's political arm has decided to contest the regional election - and the Socialist Party (PSOE) are said to be in a close fight for second place.

The first vote without the threat of violence - Daniel Shweimler reports

Some 1.8 million people were eligable to vote, and turn-out was good despite chilly, rainy weather in much of the Basque country.

In the first eight hours of voting 52% of the electorate had cast ballots, 9% higher than at the same stage of the 1994 regional elections.

Voters were renewing the 75-seat regional legislature, which in turn will elect the president.

It is the sixth such election since Spain granted the Basque country a broad degree of autonomy in 1959.

The Spanish Government and main opposition parties all said that the regional elections would have to pass off peacefully and the results be respected, before they were convinced that ETA was committed to peace.

In a taped message broadcast on Saturday by the BBC, a hooded ETA leader insisted that the truce offer "was solid and serious" but added that it had no regrets for any of its actions.