With a very low turnout, just under 50%, Spain voted in a direction consistent with that of the rest of Europe: the first party is the PP, which obtained 22 seats (9 seats more than five years ago) , with 34% (almost six million votes).
The leader of the list is the current MEP Dolors Montserrat who brings home the best victory of the PP over the PSOE in Europe since the beginning of the millennium. Despite many mistakes in the election campaign, Alberto Nuñéz Feijóo achieved the victory he wanted against Pedro Sánchez which allows him to stay on track.
Second, 4 percentage points away, the Socialist Party, which obtained 20. Pedro Sánchez managed to contain the expected defeat and lose only one deputy compared to 2019. The PSOE delegation in Brussels will be led by the current Minister for ecological transition, Teresa Rivera.
The third party is Vox, again according to forecasts: with almost 10% of the votes, they reach six seats, two more than in 2019.
Compared to the results of other far-right parties, it is however more contained. This time Spain elects 61 MEPs, two more than in 2019: in comparisons with the results of 5 years ago, these two wildcard seats must be taken into account. And then it must be taken into account that the European elections are the only ones in Spain that are celebrated as a single constituency: in a very fragmented country from a territorial point of view, this changes the cards on the table.
And in fact, in fourth position we find a grouping of three parties: the Catalans of Esquerra republicana, the Basques of EH Bildu and the Galicians of del Bng. It is the formula that these parties, important locally but small at a national level, have found to maximize the result: they obtained 3 seats, as in 2019, with almost 5% of the votes.
A hair below, still with 3 MEPs, is Sumar, the coalition led by Yolanda Díaz. Five years ago, Unidas Podemos had double that. This time, however, Podemos went alone, led by former minister Irene Montero: she obtained 2 seats, with 3.3% of the votes.
If having overtaken Podemos is little consolation, for Sumar and Yolanda Díaz having obtained three seats, instead of the hoped for 4, will be a source of enormous problems. With the lists blocked, the fight between the coalition parties for the top positions was very fierce, and Izquierda Unida finally gave in. Despite being the strongest party in the coalition, it had accepted position number 4.
The leader of the list was chosen by Díaz, and she is the pro-migrant activist Estrella Galán (who invited the «democratic groups of the European Parliament to implement a cordon sanitaire against the far right»); number two is Ada Colau’s right-hand man, the former deputy Jaume Assens (who had previously also been the bridge between Colau’s party and Podemos), and third place was taken by a Valencian party, Compromís.
The current MEP Manuel Pineda, from Iu, occupied position number 4. For Iu this was the worst possible result. Today, Monday, the party executive will meet to understand what to do, just when the newly elected secretary Antonio Maíllo had instead staked everything on the alliance with Sumar, an alliance whose terms some in the party wanted to rethink. Now a war could break out.
The most disconcerting result is the three seats obtained by a newborn party, founded by a far-right influencer, spreader of countless fake news, called Se acabó la fiesta (the party is over). A party that had no visibility in the traditional media and managed to transmit its indifferent messages only through social networks and Telegram.
Closing out the Spanish delegation are two seats, one each for Junts – the party of former Catalan president Puigdemont – and one for Ceus, another coalition between the Basque nationalist party PNV, Coalición Canaria and others. In total they obtained 1.6% of the votes.
As for Junts, who lost two of the three seats he had in the current European Chamber (one of which was Puigdemont’s), it is clear that without the name of the former president, the party is much less strong.
Today, with the polls closed, the new Catalan parliament meets for the first time to elect the president: the new balance of power between Esquerra and Junts will tip the scales for the decision on the future Catalan government.
In total, the Spanish right carries a total of 31 seats out of 61 (in total, the three rights add 48% of the votes).
The PSOE, Sumar and Podemos together have 25 seats. The other 5 are the nationalist parties, which support the Sánchez government. Mutatis mutandisthe precarious balance that supports the Sánchez government has all in all also held up in Europe.
