[1] ANV played a minor role during the Republic, when it usually aligned with left and republican parties (being even part of the Popular Front in 1936) and in the Civil War.

When democracy resumed in Spain, ANV run by itself for the first contemporary Spanish general election presenting candidates in Biscay and Gipuzkoa, achieving a meagre 0.64% of the total votes in the Basque country.

Nearly half of its lists were declared illegal prior to the elections, because a significant portion of the candidates on them had previously run for either Batasuna, EH or HB (different reincarnations of the same base).

[citation needed] Thus, the legal assessment declaring some of the lists ineligible was made in a hurry, which also left little time (24 hours) for appeal on the part of the party.

In February 2008, the Spanish government declared EAE-ANV illegal as a precautionary measure to prevent them from taking part in the year's general election.