Between May 23-26, 2019, European Parliament elections took place in EU’s 28 countries, this was a very important for the new formation of EU and its future.

Election Results

During these elections the highest voter turnout was 50,97%, which was registered within the last 20 years (Chart 1). This may be due to the growing interest among Europeans and their desire to expand their influence on European political processes.


Chart 1

It is noteworthy, that the participation rate has also increased substantially in the larger European countries (Germany, France, Spain and Hungary). This participation rate during the European Parliament elections of 2014 and 2019 in EU member states is indicated in Chart 2.

EU member states	2014	2019
Austria	45,39%	59,30%
Belgium	89,64%	88,47%
Bulgaria	35,84%	30,83%
Hungary	28,97%	43,36%
Great Britain	35,60%	37%
Greece	59,97%	58,44%
Germany	48,1%	61,41%
Denmark	56,32%	66%
Italy	57,2%	54,50%
Ireland	52,44%	49,30%
Spain	43,81%	64,30%
Cyprus	43,97%	44,99%
Luxemburg	85,55%	84,10%
Latvia	30,24%	33,60%
Lithuania	47,35%	53,08%
Malta	74,80%	72,70%
Netherlands	37,32%	41,90%
Portugal	33,67%	31,40%
Poland	23,83%	45,61%
Romania	32,44%	51,07%
Slovenia	24,45%	28,29%
Slovakia	13,05%	22,74%
France	42,43%	50,12%
Finland	39,1%	40,70%
Hrvatska	25,24%	29,86%
Czech	18,20%	28,72%
Sweden	51,07%	53,30%
Estonia	36,52%	37,60%

Chart 2

As a result of the European Parliament elections traditional European political parties could maintain their positions and the Eurosceptic forces, as it was predicted, succeeded in achieving some progress and gaining somewhat more mandates.  

The number of mandates of the European political parties in the Parliament is presented in Chart 3 (the data is based on the results, registered in EU 20 member states by 4։25 am on June 4, preliminary results registered in 7 countries and calculations applied in 1 country).

European Political Parties	Number of mandates received
European Democratic Party	179
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats	152
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	109
Salvini’s European Alliance of People and Nations (formerly known as European Alliance of People and Nations)	73
Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists	60
The Greens –European Free Alliance	74
The European United Left/Nordic Green Left Union	38
Five Star Movement + Brexit Party	44
New Independent Parties	22

Chart 3

These elections of the European Parliament were highlighted for a few of its important features, and below we will discuss each of them in detail.

Weakening of Central Forces’

The election results did not manage to consolidate many of the positions of traditional European central forces: these forces haven’t formed an absolute majority in the Parliament for the first time since 1979 (European Parliament 1st elections).  

Before the elections the centralized right-wing European People’s Party and the centralized left-wing Social-Democrats’ progressive alliance together had 412 mandates in Parliament. As a result of the elections, the number of their mandates decreased reaching 331, though in order to reach an absolute majority in Parliament they needed to garner at least 376 mandates. It is assumed, that the centralized and liberal forces should seek a coalition so as to maintain their power and impact in Parliament. The 2 largest traditional groups will most probably try to come to an agreement with the “Liberals and Democrats Alliance for Europe” party and “The Greens for Europe free alliance”. In the case of forming a coalition with these forces, traditional centrist forces will maintain their positions, but cannot dictate in the case of setting European Parliament’s priorities.

Strengthening of Populists Positions

According to preliminary results, populist Eurosceptic forces have made significant leaps especially in large European countries. In France, Marine Le Pen’s “Rassemblement National” far-right party ranks first with 23,31% votes, beating Emmanuel Macron’s “Coalition Renaissance” (22,41%). Italy’s right-wing extremist “Liga” party, led by the Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, won first place as a result of the elections, getting 34,33%  of the votes. In Great Britain, “Brexit” Eurosceptic party led by Nigel Farage also ranked first, by getting 31,69% of the votes. Also, Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban’s “Fidesz” party registered the best result, by getting 52,33% votes.

The results of populist forces show that the trust towards them has grown. It is important to note, that despite the best results compared with the previous years, the populists’ results do not give sufficient opportunity to “change” Europe’s future. They will manage to impact on European Parliaments current policy, prevent or slow down legislative processes, EU budget approval and the planning of long-term expenses.

The issue of joint-execution of populists is also problematic. Although the idea of weakening the EU institutions unites them, they have major contradictions on many issues (migration problem, attitude towards Russia, European budget and so on).

Importance of Environmental Component

In these European Parliament’s elections, the Greens registered the best results, by getting 74 mandates, which is more compared with the results registered in the last Parliament: 50 mandates in 2014, 48 mandates in 2009 and 35 mandates in 2004. In Germany, they received 21% of the votes and ranked the second place after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “Cristian Democratic party”. The Greens also registered best results in France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, Denmark and Belgium.

The unprecedented high rate of the Greens registered during the elections, has affected how the Europeans have become concerned with the environmental problems. It is assumed that the ecological line can be strengthened in European policy and environmental issues can appear in the authorities’ attention.

Brexit’s Factor

The victory of the populist “Brexit” party formed in Great Britain just 6 weeks before the elections shows that the British people want to reach clearness in the process of Brexit. This force agrees that Great Britain should leave the EU in October, even without an agreement. The uncertainty of the “Brexit” process has probably led to the low results of Britain’s traditional forces. Prime Minister Theresa May’s “Conservative Party” ended up in the 5th place, with 8,7% of the votes, which is the worst result since 1830. The “Labor Party” also registered a low result during these elections, 14,8%, which is 10% less than that of 2014. Summing up the result of the elections we can note that the main prediction will be that the rearrangements of forces in the European Parliament. The discussions over the cooperation between the European political parties have already started. Not only the centrist forces negotiate for coalition forming, but also populist forces do. The next step is the election of the executive body that is the European Commission’s leading staff election, the results of which will depend on the willingness of political parties to cooperate.