In 1975 the Galician National-Popular Assembly (AN-PG) was founded, as a "mass front" of the UPG to organize protests and preparate a future electoral candidacy.

These elections were won by the conservative and Spanish People's Alliance, while the Galician nationalist parties had a relatively low electoral result.

[b] The three MPs of the joint BN-PG and PSG list were expelled from Parliament after they refused to take the oath to the Spanish constitution.

The UPG and the AN-PG agreed in early 1982 to reformulate their project, in the form a left-wing nationalist front that would cover a greater political spectrum, with different currents and parties inside it.

The first meeting was held on 15 May, with the participation of AN-PG, UPG, PSG, Galiza Ceibe-OLN, Assembly of Galician Nationalists, Libertarian Collective "Arco da Vella"[c] and independents of Santiago de Compostela and A Coruña.

All this organizations and independents had signed an appeal for the unity of Galician nationalism; under the basic principles of recognition of the multinational character of the Spanish State, right of self-determination, anti-imperialism, self-government, self-organization, internal pluralism and democracy.

In addition to the previous groups, Galician Revolutionary Students (ERGA), Nationalist Advance and independents of Vigo and O Condado would also join the new project.

At a meeting held on 27 June the political program of the organization was approved, without explicitly mentioning independence, although the creation of a Galician state was considered the main final goal.

On 11 July, the Assembly of Galician Nationalists (ANG) decided to leave the Permanent Managing Commission, on the grounds that the new front was at the service of the individual parties and lacked a serious minimum political program.

Finally, AN-PG (which will cease to exist de facto after this Assembly), UPG, PSG and various independents joined the front.

These election results generated an internal debate within the PSG, which lead to an extraordinary Congress in January 1983, in which the party decided to leave the BNG.

The front obtained 50,491 votes, 117 local councilors and 6 mayors (Corcubión, Fene, Moaña, Malpica de Bergantiños and Carnota).

The front also developed actions of protest against what was considered the appropriation and manipulation of the remains of historic Galician nationalist Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao, receiving in response a tough police crackdown.

The bad electoral results culminated in an internal debate which ended with the convening of an extraordinary National Assembly, held at Santiago on 15 December.

The same year (1986) the Spanish NATO membership referendum took place, and the Galician Nationalist Bloc campaigned in favor of leaving.

The same year, the party boycotted the official acts of remembrance of the 1936 statute of autonomy, demanding self-determination and an end to "historical manipulation".

Party members approved the mechanisms that allowed the "updating" of the tactics and forms of political work of the front, by starting the process of opening the BNG to Galician society.

In June of the same year, the second European elections in the history of Spain were held, with the BNG running alone again, as the only Galician candidacy, and gaining 46,052 votes.

In 1989, there was a popular movement of protest in the town of Allariz, against the mayor Leopoldo Pérez Camba (People's Party), which evolved into a full revolt and ended with the resignation of the local government.

[25] In June 1990, the Permanent Commission made public an economic document, with an analysis on the crisis of Galicia and the solutions to it proposed by the front.

BNG developed an intense campaign that year with the slogan "Galiza self-determination", which culminated on 6 December with a rally in Santiago de Compostela attended by more than 10,000 people.

During that year, the front also campaigned against the Maastricht Treaty and a group of independents within BNG created the collective Nationalist Left (IN), in an attempt to gain internal power and to lower the influence of the Galician People's Union.

BNG run for the Spanish elections of 1993 with the slogan "Galiza with its own strength", obtaining 126,965 votes and getting very close to gaining seats at A Coruña and Pontevedra.

In each of these elections, the BNG achieved better results than in the previous one, ultimately reaching a historic total of 25 seats, a significant milestone for Galician nationalism.

Ana Pontón has been recognized as a leader who blends nationalism with social issues, practicing an inclusive and moderate leadership style.

Traditionally, the largest party and main ideological influence has been the Galician People's Union (Unión do Povo Galego, UPG).

However, since 1990 BNG had gradually abandoned talk about independence and self-determination, especially since the moderate nationalist party Galician Unity (Unidade Galega) joined the coalition.

According to its former leader, Anxo Quintana, BNG at that time was not a pro-independence party,[39] although some individuals and organizations within it continued to express a support for the idea.

As a result, several new organizations calling for "transparency and internal democracy" have formed within the BNG, namely the Encontro Irmandinho (led by former BNG president Xosé Manuel Beiras), Movemento Pola Base (formed by grassroots members and backed by the youth section Galiza Nova), and A Alternativa (supported by former Member of the European Parliament Camilo Nogueira).

In the 2009 elections, a sharp reduction in votes for the PSdG, together with poor results for the BNG (12 seats), forced the left-wing coalition out of government to the benefit of the PPdeG.