Career
He is also the former president of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. He joined PSE in 1977, and was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies at the 1986 General Election representing Vizcaya Province. López is known for his opposition to Basque independence.
In 2005, he was the PSE-Electrical engineer"s candidate for the presidency of the Basque Country, but lost out to Juan José Ibarretxe of the Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco (Basque Nationalist Party)).
In the 2009 election, the Nationalist Party was the party with the most votes with 30 seats, followed by the Socialist Party, with 25 seats. The illegalisation of a party representing a sizeable voting segment, the Left Basque Nationalist Party Batasuna enabled the socialists to reach an agreement with the People"s Party for López to be elected as Lehendakari (Basque president).
He was elected to the position on May 5, 2009 in the Basque Parliament, effectively ending thirty years of Basque nationalist rule in the Basque Country, in what was perceived as a very polemic election due to the absence of any party representing the secessionist Left Basque Nationalist spectrum. On 13 January 2016, he was elected President of the Congress of Deputies for the eleventh legislature, with 130 votes (the deputies of Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and Citizens) out of 350.