MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s centrist parties contained a far-right surge in Sunday’s European Parliament elections that is shaking governments in neighbouring countries, helping to bolster Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez standing as one of Europe centre-left’s leading figures.
The centre-right People’s Party (PP) and Sanchez’s Socialists (PSOE) gained two-thirds of the vote, up from about half of the share in 2019, winning a combined 42 of the available 61 seats. While the anti-immigration Vox party’s vote share rose to 9.6% from 6.2% in 2019, it fell back from last year’s national election, when it won 12.4%.
Gains by the far-right elsewhere in Europe prompted a bruised French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap national election, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats suffered their worst result ever.
With Sanchez’s hard-left allies Sumar also losing ground, the result represents a return to a two-party system after a decade of fragmented politics in Spain, said Ignacio Molina, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
“Spain is well placed in the new European Parliament,” Molina said “It is the only member country where both main parties are pro-European.”
Alberto Nunez Feijoo’s PP gained ground from last year’s national election, with his party gaining 1 percentage point.
In the context of the broader European Union, the Spain centrists surge has implications for the balance of power. It suggests a potential shift towards more moderate policies at the EU level. This could influence key decisions on economic, social, and foreign policies.
Moreover, the success of centrists in Spain may inspire similar movements in other EU member states. It highlights the potential for centrist parties to gain traction amidst rising political polarization.
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