Wikiwand AI

2019 European Parliament election in Spain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An election was held in Spain on 26 May 2019 as part of the concurrent EU-wide election to the 9th European Parliament. All 54 seats allocated to the Spanish constituency as per the Treaty of Lisbon—59 after Brexit was formalized on 31 January 2020—were up for election.[2] It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.

Registered37,248,888 Increase 2.0%
Turnout22,619,984 (60.7%)
Increase 16.9 pp
Quick facts All 59 Spanish seats in the European Parliament, Registered ...
2019 European Parliament election in Spain
← 2014
26 May 2019
2024 →
All 59[a] Spanish seats in the European Parliament
Opinion polls
Registered37,248,888 Increase 2.0%
Turnout22,619,984 (60.7%)
Increase 16.9 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Josep Borrell Dolors Montserrat Luis Garicano
Party PSOE PP Cs
Alliance S&D EPP ALDE (RE)
Leader since 26 February 2019 1 April 2019 29 December 2018
Last election 14 seats, 23.0% 16 seats, 26.1% 6 seats, 9.7%[b]
Seats won 21 13 8
Seat change Increase 7 Decrease 3 Increase 2
Popular vote 7,369,789 4,519,205 2,731,825
Percentage 32.9% 20.2% 12.2%
Swing Increase 9.9 pp Decrease 5.9 pp Increase 2.5 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop Jorge Buxadé Oriol Junqueras[c]
Party Podemos–IU Vox Ahora Repúblicas
Alliance GUE/NGL
Greens/EFA		 ECR Greens/EFA
GUE/NGL
Leader since 21 March 2019 21 April 2019 29 September 2018
Last election 11 seats, 18.0%[d] 0 seats, 1.6% 3 seats, 6.1%[e]
Seats won 6 4 3
Seat change Decrease 5 Increase 4 Steady 0
Popular vote 2,258,857 1,393,684 1,252,139
Percentage 10.1% 6.2% 5.6%
Swing Decrease 7.9 pp Increase 4.6 pp Decrease 0.5 pp
Close

Held one month after the 28 April 2019 general election, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez scored a landslide victory—as well as the first win for the party in a European Parliament election in 15 years, also with Josep Borrell as its main candidate—by achieving 32.9% of the share and 20 seats, a result which allowed it to become the largest national delegation within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Concurrently, the opposition People's Party (PP) suffered a severe setback and scored its worst result ever in a European Parliament election, but slightly improved on its general election results by achieving 20.2% of the vote and 12 seats. Citizens (Cs), which had integrated Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) within its lists ahead of the election, became the third most-voted party of the country, but at 12.2% and 7 seats it only slightly improved on the combined Cs–UPyD results in 2014. Unidas Podemos Cambiar Europa (English: "United We Can Change Europe"), the alliance of Podemos and United Left (IU) suffered a considerable drop from both parties' past results, being reduced to 10.1% and 6 seats. Far-right Vox performed well below expectations after disappointing results for the party in the 2019 general election, scoring 6.2% of the share and 3 seats.[3]

Afterwards, and as a result of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union coming into effect on 31 January 2020, five additional seats were allocated to Spain's MEP delegation, which were re-distributed by granting one each to PSOE, PP, Cs, Vox and Junts according to their May 2019 election results.

Overview

Electoral system

Voting for the European Parliament in Spain was based on universal suffrage, which comprised all Spanish nationals and resident non-national European citizens over 18 years of age with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence.[4][f] Additionally, non-resident citizens were required to apply for voting, a system known as "begged" voting (Spanish: Voto rogado).[6][7]

54 European Parliament seats were allocated to Spain as per the Treaty of Lisbon.[8][a] All were elected in a single multi-member constituency—comprising the entire national territory—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with no electoral threshold.[9] The use of this electoral method resulted in an effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.[10]

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes.[11]

Outgoing delegation

Main article: List of members of the European Parliament for Spain, 2014–2019

The table below shows the composition of the Spanish delegation in the chamber at the time of the election call.[12]

More information Groups, Parties ...
Delegation composition in April 2019
Groups Parties MEPs
Seats Total
European People's Party PP 16 17
INDEP 1[g]
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats PSOE 14 14
European United Left–Nordic Green Left Podemos 5 10
IU 4
Anova 1
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Cs 4 8
UPyD 1
PDeCAT 1
EAJ/PNV 1
INDEP 1[h]
Greens–European Free Alliance ERC 2 5
ICV 1
BNG 1
Equo 1
Close

Parties and candidates

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 days of the election call. In order to be entitled to run, parties, federations, alliances and groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least 15,000 registered electors; this requirement could be lifted and replaced through the signature of at least 50 elected officials—deputies, senators, MEPs or members from the legislative assemblies of autonomous communities or from local city councils. Electors and elected officials were disallowed from signing for more than one list.[13] Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition.[14]

Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:

More information Candidacy, Parties and alliances ...
Candidacy Parties and
alliances		 Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Ref.
Vote % Seats
PP
List
 Dolors Montserrat Conservatism
Christian democracy		 26.1% 16 [15]
PSOE
List
 Josep Borrell Social democracy 23.0% 14 [16]
Podemos–IU
List
 María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop Left-wing populism
Democratic socialism
18.0%
[d]		 11 [17]
[18]
[19]
Cs
List
 Luis Garicano Liberalism
9.7%
[b]		 6 [20]
[21]
[22]
Ahora
Repúblicas
List
 Oriol Junqueras[c] Secessionism
Left-wing nationalism
6.1%
[e]		 3 [23]
Junts
List
 Carles Puigdemont Catalan independence
Liberalism
5.4%
[j]		 3 [24]
[25]
CEUS
List
 Izaskun Bilbao Peripheral nationalism [26]
CpE
List
 Jordi Sebastià Left-wing nationalism
Eco-socialism
1.9%
[k]		 1 [27]
[28]
Vox
List
 Jorge Buxadé Right-wing populism
Ultranationalism
National conservatism		 1.6% 0 [29]
Close

Campaign

Party slogans

More information Party or alliance, Original slogan ...
Party or alliance Original slogan English translation Ref.
PP « Centrados en tu futuro » "Centered on your future" [30][31]
PSOE « Siempre hacia delante » "Always forward" [30][32]
Podemos–IU « Verdades en Europa » "Truths in Europe" [30]
Cs « Vamos Europa » "Let's go Europe" [30]
Ahora Repúblicas « Impuls republicà » "Republican impulse" [30][33]
Vox « En Europa, por España » "In Europe, for Spain" [30][34]
Close

Debates

More information Date, Organizer(s) ...
2019 European Parliament election debates in Spain
Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s)     P  Present[l]    S  Surrogate[m]    NI  Not invited   I  Invited    A  Absent invitee 
PP PSOE UPCE Cs AR Junts CEUS CpE Vox Audience Refs
12 May laSexta
(El Objetivo)		 Ana Pastor P
Montserrat		 P
Borrell		 P
Palop		 P
Garicano		 NI NI NI NI P
Buxadé		 6.9%
(1,147,000)		 [35]
[36]
22 May RTVE
 Xabier Fortes P
Montserrat		 P
Borrell		 P
Palop		 P
Garicano		 S
Solé		 S
Knörr		 P
Bilbao		 P
Sebastià		 P
Buxadé		 5.2%
(817,000)		 [37]
[38]
Close

Opinion polls

The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.

Voting intention estimates

The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font.

Color key:

  Poll conducted after legal ban on opinion polls

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...
Close

Voting preferences

The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

More information Polling firm/Commissioner, Fieldwork date ...
Close

Results

Overall

For results by autonomous community/constituency, see Results of the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain.
More information Parties and alliances, Popular vote ...
← Summary of the 26 May 2019 European Parliament election results in Spain →
Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats
Votes % ±pp Total +/−
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)1 7,369,78932.86+9.85 21+7
People's Party (PP)1 4,519,20520.15−5.94 13−3
Citizens–Party of the Citizenry (Cs)1 2 2,731,82512.18+2.51 8+2
United We Can Change Europe (Podemos–IU)3 2,258,85710.07−7.94 6−5
Vox (Vox)1 1,393,6846.21+4.64 4+4
Republics Now (Ahora Repúblicas)4 1,252,1395.58−0.51 3±0
Free for Europe (Junts)1 5 1,018,4354.54+1.04 3+1
Coalition for a Solidary Europe (CEUS)6 633,0902.82+0.89 1±0
Commitment to Europe (CpE)7 296,4911.32−0.60 0−1
Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) 295,5461.32+0.19 0±0
Green Coalition–Citizen Europe (CV–EC) 65,5040.29New 0±0
Zero Cuts–The Greens–European Green Group (Recortes Cero–LV–GVE) 50,0020.22+0.02 0±0
Volt Europa (Volt) 32,4320.14New 0±0
Feminist Initiative (IFem) 29,2760.13−0.02 0±0
Communists (PCPE–PCPC–PCPA) 28,5080.13−0.06 0±0
Act (PACT) 25,5280.11New 0±0
Andalusia by Herself (AxSí)8 23,9950.11−0.21 0±0
For a Fairer World (PUM+J) 21,5840.10New 0±0
Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE) 19,0800.09New 0±0
Pirates of Catalonia–European Pirates (pirates.cat/ep) 16,7550.07−0.18 0±0
Centrists for Europe (CCD–Lliures–UIJ–centrados) 15,6150.07New 0±0
Forum of Citizens (FAC) 14,1750.06−0.15 0±0
Positive Left (IZQP) 12,9390.06New 0±0
With You, We Are Democracy (Contigo) 12,4300.06New 0±0
Extremadurans (CEx–CREx–PREx) 11,8940.05+0.01 0±0
FE de las JONS–Spanish Alternative–La Falange–National Democracy (ADÑ)9 11,6990.05−0.39 0±0
Republican Alternative (ALTER) 11,0760.05±0.00 0±0
Actual Equality (IGRE) 9,0760.04New 0±0
Red Current Movement (MCR) 8,4020.04+0.01 0±0
Humanist Party (PH) 7,9470.04−0.05 0±0
Euro Latino Independent Movement (MIEL) 6,8090.03New 0±0
Internationalist Solidarity and Self-Management (SAIn) 5,5430.02−0.02 0±0
Blank ballots 216,7360.97−1.33
Total1 22,426,066 59+5
Valid votes 22,426,06699.14+0.94
Invalid votes 193,9180.86−0.94
Votes cast / turnout 22,619,98460.73+16.92
Abstentions 14,628,90439.27−16.92
Registered voters 37,248,888
Sources[39][40][41]
Footnotes:
Close
Popular vote
PSOE
 
 32.86%
PP
 
 20.15%
Cs
 
 12.18%
Podemos–IU
 
 10.07%
Vox
 
 6.21%
Ahora Repúblicas
 
 5.58%
Junts
 
 4.54%
CEUS
 
 2.82%
CpE
 
 1.32%
PACMA
 
 1.32%
Others
 
 1.96%
Blank ballots
 
 0.97%
Seats
PSOE
 
 35.59%
PP
 
 22.03%
Cs
 
 13.56%
Podemos–IU
 
 10.17%
Vox
 
 6.78%
Ahora Repúblicas
 
 5.08%
Junts
 
 5.08%
CEUS
 
 1.69%

Maps

  • Vote winner strength by province.
    Vote winner strength by province.
  • Vote winner strength by autonomous community.
    Vote winner strength by autonomous community.

Distribution by European group

More information Groups, Parties ...
Summary of political group distribution in the 9th European Parliament (2019–2024)[12]
Groups Parties Seats Total %
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) 21 21 35.59
European People's Party (EPP) 13 13 22.03
Renew Europe (RE) 8
1		 9 15.25
European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) 3
2
1		 6 10.17
European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) 4 4 6.78
Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) 2
1		 3 5.08
Non-Inscrits (NI) 2 2 3.39
Total 59 59 100.00
Close

Elected legislators

The following table lists the elected legislators:[42][43]

More information Elected legislators, # ...
Close

Notes

  1. [a]
    Note that, once Brexit came into effect on 31 January 2020, Spain's MEP delegation was increased from 54 to 59 and applied retroactively.[1]
  2. [b]
    Results for UPyD (6.5%, 4 seats) and C's (3.2%, 2 seats) in the 2014 election.
  3. [c]
    At the time in preventive detention in Soto del Real (Madrid).
  4. [d]
    Results for IP (10.0%, 6 seats) and Podemos (8.0%, 5 seats) in the 2014 election.
  5. [e]
    Results for EPDD (4.0%, 2 seats) and LPD (2.1%, 1 seat) in the 2014 election.
  6. [f]
    Amendments in 2018 granted the right to vote to those legally incapacitated.[5]
  7. [g]
    Francesc Gambús, former UDC MEP.
  8. [h]
    Beatriz Becerra, former UPyD MEP.
  9. [i]
    CDC was registered as an independent member within the alliance in order to allow its successor party, the PDeCAT, to be guaranteed CDC's public funding and electoral rights for the campaign.
  10. [j]
    Results for CEU in the 2014 election.
  11. [k]
    Results for PE in the 2014 election.
  12. [l]
    Denotes a main invitee attending the event.
  13. [m]
    Denotes a main invitee not attending the event, sending a surrogate in their place.
  14. [n]
    Within Unidas Podemos Cambiar Europa.
  15. [o]
    Within Cs.
  16. [p]
    PNV only.
  17. [q]
    Within CEU.
  18. [r]
    Within Podemos
  19. [s]
    Does not include non-resident citizens.

References

Bibliography

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks