Last week, Europeans headed to the polls in the largest democratic exercise on the continent. The election results have decided the composition of the European Parliament, with far-reaching consequences for many topics, from climate change to defence. The Parliament will also have to back the future European Commission President with a majority. But who voted for what, exactly?
The centre-right EPP emerged once more as the largest country, ahead of the centre-left EPP. For the first time in the history of European elections, however, the two parties combined won’t be able to form a majority. The elections also saw the consolidation of the far right, and a surge for liberals and greens. In this article, you will find a rundown of the results country by country. For the Union-wide results, please head over here, whereas for an analysis of the overall vote, we have you covered. Here are the election results – country by country.
Austria (18 seats)
Turnout: 60% (+5% from 2014)
System: single-constituency proportional, 4% threshold
Chancellor Kurz’s centre-right ÖVP party (EPP) was confirmed as the largest party, netting 34% of the vote. This was not enough to save Kurz from the vote of no confidence that toppled his government last week, but it does provide the EPP with a good result. Centre-left SPÖ (S&D) comes second, with 23%, ahead of the far-right FPÖ (EAPN) at 17%. The latter is still reeling from recent scandals. The Greens and liberal party Neos are the smaller Austrian parties to make it into Parliament, with 14% and 8% respectively.
The EPP is the net winner in Austria, getting seven out of the country’s nineteen EP seats. S&D follows with five seats, EAPN nets three, and the Greens get two. Finally, ALDE snatches one seat in Austria. After Brexit, Austria’s 19th seat will go to EPP.
Belgium (21 seats)
Turnout: 88% (-1%)
System: proportional in three constituencies: 12 Flemish, 8 French, and 1 German-speaking seats.
Belgians turned out to vote en masse since voting is mandatory and the poll coincided with general and local elections in the country. The vote happened in a time of political instability following the government’s downfall as a result of the Marrakesch migration deal; the liberal government in coalition with the conservative N-VA are in decline, while the ideological division between the two main parties is growing. While the Flemish vote leans more towards the right, the French community is swinging towards the left.
The results are aligned with the general election, awarding big gains for the far right secessionist Vlaams Belang (EAPN). The secessionists thus established themselves as the second largest party after the N-VA (ECR). Meanwhile, Brussels and Wallonia join the Franco-German green wave as Ecolo (G-EFA) becomes the second largest party, following the centre-left PS (S&D).
Bulgaria (17 seats)
Turnout: 30% (-5%)
System: proportional with preferential voting, no threshold.
The ruling conservative and populist party GERB (EPP) won a plurality in the European elections, garnering 31% of the vote. GERB is trending upwards from their 2014 result, which had been 24%. The populist, socialist party BSP (S&D) comes second with 24% of votes, ahead of liberal DPS (ALDE) with 12% and Eurosceptic VMRO (ECR) at 8%. A coalition of Green and EPP parties, called DB, secured 7% of the vote.
EPP will secure the lion’s share of Bulgarian seats, taking seven. S&D comes second with five, followed by ALDE at three. The ECR is the last group to secure Bulgarian seats, with two.
Croatia (12 seats)
Turnout: 30% (+5%)
System: open-list proportional representation, single constituency.
The ruling liberal-conservative HDZ (EPP) and the social democratic SDP (S&D) have each obtained four MEPs despite huge popular vote losses that left them with a 23% and 19% of vote share, with respective losses of 19% and 8% of votes compared to 2014.
The Croatian Eurosceptic conservatives HR (ECR) secured one seat, as did the former mayor of Zagreb, Kolakušić (independent). The anti-globalist and mild Eurosceptic Human Shield ŽZ (EFDD) also secured one seat, as did the social liberal Amsterdam Coalition. Parties such like the centre-left ethnic regionalist Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) or the right-wing Croatian Party of Rights have failed to secure a seat.
Cyprus (6 seats)
Turnout: 45% (+1%)
System: open list proportional representation, Hare quota for threshold.
The ruling Democratic Rally (EPP) came in first with 29% of votes, down from the 38% garnered in 2014. Following them is the left-wing opposition party, AKEL, at 27%. As it was the case in 2014, these parties have secured two seats each. The center-left Democratic Party comes third with 14% and also secures two seats, one up from the 2014 elections. This leaves the Socialist party with no representation in the European Parliament.
Niyazi Kızılyürek, who is AKEL’s second candidate, will be the first Turkish Cypriot to sit in the European Parliament. Consequently, Turkish Cypriots are regarded in Cyprus as the biggest winners of this election.
Czechia (21 seats)
Turnout: 29% (+11%)
System: single-constituency proportional.
The ruling centre-right ANO 2011 (ALDE) have won the election with 21% of the vote, gaining six seats. They are followed by the soft Eurosceptic and conservative Civic Democratic Party ODS (ECR), which won 14% of the votes and four seats, doubling their representation.
Czech Pirates come in third with 14% of the ballots and three seats, two points ahead of the EPP liberal-conservative coalition led by TOP 09. Their fellow EPP members, the century-old Christian democrat KDU–ČSL, will send and MEP supported by 7% of electors. On the extremes of the political spectrum, the Europhobic far-right SPD (EAPN) won two seats and 9% of the vote, ahead of the Communists with 7% and a single seat.
This is the first time the Czech Social Democratic Party fail to win any seats since Czechia entered the EU, hitting an all-time low of 4%. The vast majority of their votes are believed to have gone to the Pirates, who are pro-EU yet very sceptical of political elites.
Denmark (13 seats)
Turnout: 66% (+10%)
System: single-constituency proportional.
The ruling Venstre (ALDE) surprisingly emerged as the big winners, collecting three MEPs. They were expected to hit a three-decade low in the coming general election, but this win will put a question mark on the polls’ ability to predict election results. Radikale Venstre, also an ALDE member, doubled their seat count from one to two, banking on the highly popular Commissioner for Competition and ALDE lead candidate Margrethe Vestager.
The Danish Social Democrats (S&D) marginally increased their vote share, keeping their three seats. On the other hand, the Conservatives (EPP) have seen their vote share drop by almost 3%, albeit they preserve their single MEP. On the anti-EU front, the Danish People Party (ECR) were the night’s losers. They have seen their support reduced by more than 15%, retaining only one of the four seats secured in 2014.
Estonia (6 seats)
Turnout: 38% (+1%)
System: single-constituency proportional, no threshold.
The centrist, classical liberal Reform party (R – ALDE) scored a clear victory with 26% of the vote, and is thus confirmed as Estonia’s largest party. It finished a mere three points ahead of SDE, a centre-left party that bounced back from recent disappointments to score 23%, ten points more than in 2014. Populist centrist party Centre (K – ALDE) is third, with a disappointing 14%. Far-right party EKRE (EAPN) comes fourth with 12% of the vote, beating centre right party Pro Patria (I – EPP), whose decline continues unabated, collecting just above 10% of the vote.
Estonia has been a happy hunting ground for pro-European forces this year, with ALDE netting three of the country’s six available seats in the European Parliament, and S&D gaining two. The sole remaining seat goes to the far-right group EAPN. Estonia will gain an additional, seventh seat after Brexit, and the EPP will be the beneficiary with Pro Patria entering the parliament.
Finland (13 seats)
Turnout: 41% (+2%)
System: single-constituency proportional
In Finland, as in several other Member States, the Green Party (G-EFA) made important strides in the election, ending at around 16%, a six-point increase from the last election that will grant them a second seat. However, the liberal-conservative party, Nationella Samlingspartiet (EPP) is still considered the winner of the election, with around 20.8% (slightly lower than 2014) and two MEPs.
The Social Democrats (S&D) finished third at around 15%, gaining two MEPs. The True Finns party (ECR) rode their anti EU and anti immigration campaign to 14% and two seats themselves.The big loser in Finland is the Centre Party (ALDE), which plummeted by six points to 14%, suffering from the resignation of the coalition government they were a part of, back in March. The liberal Swedish minority party, Svenska folkpartiet (ALDE), loses a few votes, sitting at 6% but keeping its single seat.
France (74 seats)
Turnout: 50.1% (+7%)
System: single constituency, proportional, 5% threshold.
France headed to the polls after months of demonstrations by the yellow vests, in the presidential majority’s first real test since Macron’s electoral triumph two years ago. This election was a de facto referendum on the president’s agenda and the campaign had more to do with domestic matters than with European issues.
The yellow vests tried to come up with a common list, but they got no more than two thousand votes on Sunday. Their voters mainly turned up to support Marine Le Pen’s rebranded National Rally (EAPN), which came on top with 23% of the vote and twenty-two seats, two down from 2014. Macron’s party, LREM (ALDE+), are in second place in a very close race, as they got 22% of the ballot papers and twenty-one MEPs.
France is no exception to the green wave, with the French Greens securing their second-best result ever in an election of this kind. They were supported by 13% of voters and will get twelve seats, partially at the expense of Mélenchon’s far left Indomitable France (GUE/NGL), which plummeted to 6% of the votes. The traditional pillars of French politics, the Republicans and the Socialists, keep losing popular support and are heading towards irrelevance. The Republicans got 8% of the vote and eight MEPs, twelve down from 2014; the socialists, 6% and 5 seats.
Germany (96 seats)
Turnout: 61.4% (+13%)
System: single constituency, proportional with no threshold.
The elections delivered the Große Koalition a terrible blow. Weber’s Christian Democrats CDU-CSU (EPP), while still the largest party, dropped by 6% compared to 2016, ending up at 29% of the vote, with 29 seats. Centre-left SPD (S&D) endured more severe losses, scoring 15.8% (-11.5%) and securing only 11 seats. Party leader Andrea Nahles has resigned in the wake of what is the party’s worst election results in living memory.
The Greens, on the other hand, have grounds for hope as they surge to second place, netting 20% of the vote and 21 MEPs – almost doubling their 2014 result. With one third of voters under 30 casting a vote for environmental protection, there is talk of a Greta effect. The right-wing populist AfD (EAPN) reached 11% and got eleven seats, quelling fears that Germany would turn sharply to the right.
German seats will also be filled by the left-wing Die Linke (GUE-NGL), which got 5.5% and five representatives; the liberal FDP (ALDE), with similar figures; the satirical Die Partei, which collected a 2.4% protest vote and secured two seats; and Free Voters (EDP), with two MEPs. The remaining five seats will be taken by the Human Envornment Animal Protection party, the Ecological Democratic party, the Family party, Volt Europa, and the German Pirates.
Greece (21 seats)
Turnout: 59% (-1%)
System: single-constituency proportional, 3% threshold.
Greece has seen a fairly even split between the two local major parties, with the ruling soft Eurosceptic Syriza (GUE/NGL) getting six seats and the pro-European Nea Demokratia (EPP) obtaining eight. The opposition party, which suffered heavily for its role in Greece’s corruption scandals and economic hardship, bounced back ahead of Syriza by exploiting popular opposition to the name deal with North Macedonia.
The locally minor Communist Party (NI) and neo-Nazi Golden Dawn (NI) fared marginally, gaining two seats each, and a coalition of centre-left pro-european movements, KINAL (S&D) also gained two seats. The remaining seat was won by Solution for Greece, (Others), a three-year old eurosceptic party that openly admires Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
Hungary (21 seats)
Turnout: 43% (+14%)
System: single constituency, proportional representation.
As expected, the ruling right wing Fidesz have come in first with 52% of the vote, securing 13 seats, one up from 2014. Viktor Orban’s party, currently in the EPP with suspended membership, ran a campaign personally targeting Commission President Juncker and billionaire George Soros.
The remaining seats go to the opposition parties, with the pro-EU DK (Democratic Coalition) taking 4 seats and thus doubling on their current representation. The brand-new and also pro-EU Momentum party, which was one of the surprising winners of the night, got two seats. The biggest losers were on the extremes: the neo-Nazi party Jobbik lost one of their current two MEPs. The socialist MSZP-Párbeszéd are in a similar predicament, as they go down from two to one MEP. Away from the extremes, the centre also suffered, with green centrist LMP failing to retain its outgoing seat as a result of an internal crisis.
Ireland (11 seats)
Turnout: 50% (-3%)
System: single transferable vote with three constituencies
EU elections took place on the same day as local elections and a referendum to relax divorce laws. The results are only partial, since Ireland’s southern constituency is busy with a recount which is likely to take several weeks. Nevertheless, Ireland once more produced overwhelmingly pro-EU elections results, with the ruling Fine Gael (EPP) winning 29% of the vote and five seats. Liberal Fianna Fáil (ALDE) arrived a distant second with 16% of the vote and two seats. The Greens also won two seats, sitting in third at 11%.
Sinn Féin (GUE/NGL) was the night’s loser, defending only one of their three outgoing seats. A collection of independent parties got a collective 23% of the vote, with their flagship Independents 4 Change securing 11%, but its members have no current affiliation in the Parliament. The Labour Party plummeted to 3%, failing to secure a seat. Following Brexit, Ireland will be apportioned two extra seats that would provisionally be taken by Fianna Fail (ALDE) and the Greens (pending recount in Ireland South).
Italy (76 seats)
Turnout: 54% (-3%)
System: proportional preferential voting with five constituencies, electoral threshold at 4%.
Election results in Italy were anomalous compared to European trends. The far-right North League (EAPN) became the largest party in the country, nearly doubling on its results of the 2018 general election. The party, however, scored lower than predicted by polls, collecting 34% of the vote. The opposition centre-left PD (S&D) recovered a part of the votes lost in 2018, coming at 22% – but still light years away from its lofty 2014 victory with 41% of the vote.
The North League’s coalition parties, the Five Stars (EFDD, future affiliation uncertain) dropped from the 33% they scored in the general elections to 18% and third place. Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (EPP) comes fourth with 8%, followed by far right Fratelli d’Italia (ECR) at 6%. The pro European liberal party Più Europa (ALDE) failed to secure a seat, as did the Greens and the radical left.
EAPN reaps the bounty as a result, gaining 28 seats against the 18 going to S&D. EPP gained 8 seats, and ECR collected 5. Since the future affiliation of the Five Stars is uncertain, their current 14 seats are not going to benefit any of the existing groups in the Parliament at time of writing. Given the poor performance of the Five Stars’ allies elsewhere in the EU, their plan to set up a new group in Parliament has failed.
Latvia (8 seats)
Turnout: 33% (+3%)
System: proportional, single national constituency
Latvians headed to the polls seven months after a general election, where the Russian minority social democrat party Harmony (S&D) came atop the ballot but was excluded from coalition talks. Thus, Latvia resorted to a five-party government coalition between New Unity (EPP), the National Alliance (ECR), the New Conservatives (unaffiliated, but centre-right pro-EU), Who Owns the State? (right-wing, anti-establishment, soft Eurosceptic), and Development/For! (ALDE). All this broad church of parties have in common is that they are not ethnically Russian.
The results had little to do with the 2014 election, confirming the recent volatility of Latvian politics. New Unity got 26% of the vote and two MEPs, down from four in 2014. Harmony, with 17%, and two MEPs, as well as the National Alliance, with 16% and a further two MEPs, doubled their representation. The brand-new liberal party Development/For! performed well at 12%, and the Latvian Russian Union (G-EFA) got 6%. This leaves two government parties without representation in the hemicycle.
Something that might set Latvia apart is the fact that Euroscepticism has been far from a central campaign topic, perhaps due to fear of Russia. Of the mainstream parties, only the National Alliance are close to the far-right, but they are yet to join the Eurosceptic bandwagon.
Lithuania (11 seats)
Turnout: 42% (-5%)
System: proportional with one national constituency
The ballot, held concurrently with the second round of the presidential election, was won by the liberal-conservative Homeland Union (TS, EPP), led by Gabrielus Landsbergis. They have won one fifth of the vote and, in doing so, they have secured three seats. They are closely followed by the centre-left Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP, S&D), which got 16% of the vote and two seats.
Coming in third place were the social liberals of the Liberal Movement of the Lithuanian Republic (ALDE), who doubled their 2014 representation and will send two MEPs this time. Also with two seats were the conservative and ecologist Agrarian and Greens Lithuanian Union (G-EFA). Both the Labour Party (ALDE) and the Polish minority LLRA (ECR) will be sending one representative each.
Lithuania has no parties on the LSDP’s left, for Lithuania banned communist and fascist parties in 1991. Thus, the far-right Order and Justice are the best-known party close to the right extreme of the country’s political spectrum, yet their vote share fell well short of securing a seat.
Luxembourg (6 seats)
Turnout: 84% (-1%)
System: proportional, single nationalconstituency
The conservative CSV (EPP) have obtained their worst result in a European election to this day. Juncker’s party has dramatically dropped from a 37.7% vote share in 2014 to an all-time low of 21.1%, losing one of their three seats. After being excluded from the governing coalition in the 2018 general election, the centre-right party’s further decline in the EP elections evidences the changes in the Luxembourgish political landscape.
Conversely, the ruling DP (ALDE) made significant gains and became the largest party in Luxembourg by just 0.3% of the vote share. Support for Dei Gréng (Greens – EFA) rose to 18% of the voting percentage, albeit their efforts to secure a second MEP have been unsuccessful. LSAP (S&D) retain their single seat with similar numbers to the 2014 EP elections.
Luxembourg is one of the five member states with a compulsory voting system, and so it has the second highest turnout in the EU. However, the small country has not kept pace with the general upward trend across the Union, for the Grand Duchy has seen its lowest ever turnout.
Malta (6 seats)
Turnout: 72% (-2%)
System: proportional, single transferable vote (STV).
There are no party lists in Malta, and candidates are voted individually. They contest the election either endorsed by a party or as independents. In order to get elected, a candidate has to overcome the quota, which is the number resulting from dividing the number of valid votes by the number of seats plus one, i.e. seven. Candidates achieving the quota in the counting process have their remaining votes transferred to candidates further down on the preference list.
The Labour Party of Malta (S&D) sailed on to an astonishing landslide victory, securing 55% of the votes, which is the largest majority won in the island’s electoral history. The party also secured the record as the national party with the highest voting percentage at home in the European Parliament, granting four parliamentary seats to S&D.
The centre-right Nationalist Party (EPP) got 36% of the votes, and the two remaining seats. All other parties and candidates combined got the remaining 7% of the vote. Of these, the largest share (3.2%) goes to the neo-Nazi party Imperium Europa, which advocates for an ethno-nationalist pan-European federation. As such, the party fails to secure a seat.
Netherlands (26 seats)
Turnout: 42% (+5%)
System: proportional representation, single national constituency
Dutch electors were among the first to vote in the four-day-long European elections. While the media attention was centred around the controversial debate between Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD, part of ALDE) and Eurosceptic FvD’s head Thierry Baudet (ECR), S&D lead candidate Frans Timmermans stole the spotlight.
In a turn of events, the Dutch centre-left PvdA (S&D) secured six seats to win the election. The so-called Timmermans effect propelled the Dutch Labour party to their best election results in Europe since 2004. On the other hand, the staunchly pro-EU D66 (ALDE) lost two out of the four seats they held in 2014. Rutte’s ruling centre-right VVD (ALDE) and the environmentalist left party GroenLinks (EGP) both increased their number of seats by one, with four and three MEPs respectively.
Geert Wilders’ pro-Nexit PVV (MENF) lost all of its four MEPs. It appears PVV’s voters turned to the other anti-EU party Forum voor Democratie (ECR). Keeping the upward trend of the last provincial elections, the polls forecast a win for Thierry Baudet’s eurosceptic FvD. However, the party ended in fourth place with three seats.
Poland (51 seats)
Turnout: 46% (+22%)
System: proportional representation with a single national constituency, 8% threshold
Poles, much like in the national elections, are mostly split between two parties: the ruling PiS (ECR) and PO (EPP). PiS, which showed more than the usual soft Euroscepticism before the elections by calling for EU powers to be returned to Member States, have garnered 26 seats, confirming their position as the country’s largest party. PO, the party of European Council President Donald Tusk, together with its pro-EU coalition KE, got a little less than PiS, with 22 seats combined. Of this coalition, EPP gained 16 seats, S&D 5 seats, and the remaining seat in other group to be determined.
Wiosna (S&D), which is a brand-new pro-EU party that emerged only in February 2019, managed to grab 3 seats. Konfederacja, a hard Eurosceptic right-wing party, failed to gain any seats in the European Parliament.The turnout of this election doubled for Poland, but still fell somewhat short of EU average.
Portugal (21 seats)
Turnout: 31% (-2%)
System: proportional, single national constituency, no threshold
The ruling PS (Socialist Party, S&D) won the election, securing one third of the votes and nine seats. They are followed by the center-right EPP member PSD (Social Democratic Party), supported by 22% of voters and getting six seats; and BE (Left Bloc, GUE/NGL), whose 10% share of vote will grant them two seats. Surprisingly, People-Animals-Nature party scored 5,08% and obtained its first MEP, who will sit with the rising European Greens.
Romania (32 seats)
Turnout: 49% (+16%)
System: proportional, single national constituency
The vote was a tight race between PNL (EPP), PSD (S&D suspended membership), and the brand-new alliance Alianta 2020. They got 26%, 23%, and 21% of the votes, respectively.
PNL, a conservative-liberal party, won ten seats, four up from 2014, to secure a win not foreseen by the polls, that predicted the social-democratic PSD to win the election. However, PSD have come in closely with their eight elected representatives, thus retaining their current strength in the European Parliament. Also with eight seats come Alianta 2020, a coalition of staunchly pro-EU new parties aiming to represent the interests of all Romanians, against nationalists and populists.
The remaining six seats are evenly split between the social liberal Partidul PRO Romania, founded by former prime minister Victor Ponta, UDMR (EPP), the party representing the Hungarian minority, and PMP (EPP), a center-right party led by the former Romanian head of state Traian Băsescu.
Slovakia (14 seats)
Turnout: 22% (+9pp). System: single constituency, proportional preferential voting, 5% threshold.
The new pro-EU coalition of Progressive Slovakia + SPOLU won the election, gaining 20% of preferences and thus obtaining four seats (two in ALDE and two in EPP). Below, we find ruling SMER – SD party (16%, three seats in S&D) and only then far-right L’SNS (12%, two unaffiliated seats).
While Slovakia is the member state with the lowest turnout, it is nearly the double of what it was in 2014, following the upward cross-border trend.
Slovenia (8 seats)
Turnout: 28%.
System: proportional with preferential voting, one national constituency, 4% electoral threshold.
The populist, conservative SDS party (EPP) won a large plurality with 26% of votes. This party is known for its adoption of Donald Trump as a role model, and for having Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as an affiliate and patron, signifying Slovenia’s recent shift to the right.
Centre-left SD (S&D) come in second, with 18% of the vote, ahead of LMS (ALDE) with 15%. The latter is a catch-all party founded and headed by former comedian and journalist Marjan Sarec. All other parties have failed to secure a seat, save for the centre-right NSi (EPP), which scored 11%.
EPP gets the lion’s share of seats in Slovenia, gaining four out of eight. The two remaining seats go to S&D and ALDE, respectively.
Sweden (21 seats)
Turnout: 55% (+4%)
System: proportional, single national constituency
The run-up to the European elections in Sweden was rocked by three political scandals: incompatibilities, travel expenditure, and sexual harassment accusations. They affected, respectively, the Liberal Party’s (ALDE) top candidate, Cecilia Wikström, Left Party’s (GUE-NGL) Malin Björk, and Sweden Democrats’ (ECR) Peter Lundgren. The election results reflected this.
The scandals mostly damaged the Liberals, who will hang on by the skin of their teeth and secure one seat, from the two obtained in 2014. On the other hand, it is the far right Sweden Democrats who emerge as the perceived winners, scoring 15% (5% up from 2014) and thus sending three MEPs. The Moderate Party (EPP) also made gains, polling at 17% and securing four seats. The Centre Party (ALDE) nearly doubled their vote share to get 11% of the ballots and two seats.
The largest party is still the Social Democrats (S&D) with 23% and five MEPs, a slight decrease from the last election. The Christian Democrats (EPP) scored a minor success, ending at 9%. Despite getting 11%, the Green Party (G/EFA) cannot be happy with the result, as they lost 5% from 2014. The only Party to be expelled from the European Parliament were Feminist Intiative (S&D) which scored a measly 0.8%.
Spain (54 seats)
Turnout: 65% (+21%)
System: proportional representation, single national constituency, no threshold.
The ruling social-democrat PSOE emerge as the night’s winners and take a twenty-seat tally, with the first double-digit victory in share of vote since 1994. The results were an ugly read in the left-wing Podemos’s headquarters; in spite of their gaining one MEP to make a total of six, they are five seats below the bar set by their 2014 combination with IU, now without representation.
The conservative PP come in second and will send twelve representatives, four down from their 2014 figures. The liberal Cs are third with seven seats, up from the six obtained in 2014 if we count the now-irrelevant UPyD four MEPs. Further on the right we find the Eurosceptic and nationalist Vox’s three parliamentarians.
The Catalan pro-independence parties keep their five MEPs, with the left-leaning Ahora repúblicas (now republics) obtaining three MEPs, one up from 2014, and the right-leaning Junts (together) sending two representatives. Closing the table is the Coalition for a Solidary Europe, formed by centred non-separatist nationalist and regionalist, who will be represented by one member.
This election, with an unusually high turnout, was held on the same day as local and regional elections in Spain, only four weeks after a general election with similar figures. For the Catalan pro-independence parties, the campaign revolved around independence. Vox, adamantly opposed to it, also treated this issue with prominence. For the rest of the parties, the European election revolved around social issues, and their preferred way to achieve an even-closer union in Europe.
United Kingdom (73 seats)
Turnout: 37% (+4%)
System: proportional, no threshold, twelve constituencies.
The Brexit Party won a plurality in the UK, with 32% overall and 29 seats. They advocate leaving the EU without a deal but have no other policies as yet. Combined with UKIP, the only other party to advocate this policy, 35% of votes went to parties advocating a no deal Brexit.
Pro Remain parties won more votes than those advocating no deal. The Liberal Democrats (ALDE) won 20% of the vote and 16 seats, up from 7% and 1 seat in 2014. The Green Party (G-EFA) won 12% of the vote and 7 seats. Newly-launched Change UK secured 3.4% of votes but failed to get representation. The pro Remain Scottish National Party (S&D) took 38% of the vote in Scotland and 3.6% nationally, electing 3 MEPs. 1 MEP was elected for Plaid Cymru (G-EFA) in Wales, equating to 1% of votes nationally.
The Conservatives (ECR) campaigned on their negotiated deal and lost 15 of their 19 seats and reduced their vote share from 24% to 9%, their worst result in history. Meanwhile, Labour’s (S&D) Brexit policy of delivering Brexit following a general election and possibly backing a confirmatory referendum was not clear to voters. They finished third, dropping from 20 MEPs to 10 and 25% of the vote to 14%.
Turnout was lower in Northern Ireland than in 2014, down from 52% to 45%. They used a separate preferential system with a threshold of 155,000 votes. Alliance (ALDE) won the first seat, while the UUP (ECR) lost the seat they had held since 1979. The far right unionist party DUP (unaffiliated) and Sinn Fein (GUE) took the remaining two seats.
