The People's Party wins at Spanish and European level
At Spanish level, the PP won the elections but lost significant
support, going from 42% to just over 26% of the vote. The PP retained 16
MEPs, 8 fewer than in 2009. The PSOE got 23% and 14 seats, losing 6 of
the seats it won 5 years ago. The PP and PSOE lost more than 5 million
votes in Spain overall and went from holding a combined total of 80% of
all the votes in Spain to holding 49%. For this reason, many in Spain
are already saying that bi-partisanship has ended. The Plural Left
coalition (Izquierda Plural), with Izquierda Unida (IU) and the Catalan
Green Socialist and post-Communist Coalition (ICV-EUiA), obtained 10% of
the vote, jumping from 2 to 6 MEPs. As well as this, the alternative
left platform formed by individual citizens against austerity measures
called Podemos ran for the first time and won 5 seats in the European
Parliament, obtaining 7.96% of the votes cast. The Spanish nationalist
and populist party UPyD significantly increased its support and goes
from 1 to 4 MEPs, after obtaining 6.49% of the vote. The coalition of
moderate and centre-right Catalan and Basque nationalists, CEU, which is
led by the Centre-Right pro-Catalan State Coalition (CiU), kept its 3
MEPs, garnering 5.44% of the vote. The coalition led by the Left-Wing
Catalan Independence Party (ERC) obtained 4.02% of the vote in Spain,
winning 2 European seats. The anti-Catalan nationalism and populist
party Ciutadans (C's) obtained 3.16% of the vote in Spain and 2 MEPs.
The left-wing Basque and Galician nationalists’ coalition Los Pueblos
Deciden (LPD) obtained 2.07% and 1 MEP. Similarly, the left-wing and
greens coalition La Primavera Europea won 1.91% of the vote and 1 MEP
seat. Finally, VOX, the Spanish nationalists with ties to the far-right
and led by former Vice President of the European Parliament and PP
Member, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, got only 1.56% of the vote and did not win a
single seat.
At European level, according to the vote count available when this
article was written, the People's Party won the elections, although it
lost some 59 seats. The EPP will hold 212 seats and therefore their
leader, Luxembourger Jean-Claude Juncker, will become the next President
of the European Commission if he manages to obtain the necessary
parliamentary support. The Social-Democrats also lost support but retain
185 seats in the new Parliament. The Liberal Group got 71 MEPS elected
and the Greens 55. The Alternative Left won 45 seats. The European
Conservatives and Reformists, which includes the UK Tories, got 40 MEPs
elected. The group Libertas formed by Euro-sceptic parties such as the
UKIP obtained 36 seats. Finally, there are 107 MEPs not linked to any of
the large European political families. Among these, there are
extreme-right MEPs, including a neo-Nazi from Germany. The extreme-right
Front National won the elections in France, Euro-sceptic UKIP won in
the UK, extreme-right won in Denmark and it particularly increased its
support in The Netherlands and Hungary.
A higher turnout in Catalonia that sends a message
These elections to the European Parliament are a milestone in the
political landscape of both Spain and Catalonia; for the downfall of the
PP and the PSOE, but also for the victory of self-determination parties
in Catalonia. In addition, some 47.4% of Catalans cast their vote, an
increase of more than 10 percentage points (up from 36.94% in 2009).
Taken in its entirety, turnout in Spain increased by only one percentage
point, from 44.5% in 2009 to 45.6%; an increase sustained by the sharp
rise in the number of voters in Catalonia. In fact, in the rest of
Spain, turnout decreased in almost all regions, with only a few
exceptions. Turnout also stagnated at EU level, going from 43% in 2009
to 43.1% in the newest elections. Parties and civil society
organisations supporting self-determination asked Catalan citizens to
vote in these elections in order to send a message to the world:
Catalans want to hold an independence vote and to remain within the EU.
In a context where abstention, Euro-scepticism, populism and
extreme-right parties have increased throughout Europe, the victory of
pro-EU, democratic and moderate forces in Catalonia, with a much higher
turnout than previously was the case, should be taken into account by
the European institutions. In fact, as self-determination parties
stressed during the campaign, the EU faces a great challenge in
Catalonia's democratic call to hold an independence vote and remain
within the Union should it no longer be a part of Spain. Catalonia's
self-determination process speaks to the European project’s founding
values of peace, democracy, prosperity, the lifting of borders and the
building of a Europe of citizens.
The ERC goes from 9.2% to 23.7% of the vote in Catalonia
For the first time in the 37 years of democracy following the end of
Franco's dictatorship, the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party,
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), has won an election. It has
obtained almost 1 out of every 4 votes cast in Catalonia, obtaining a
23.7% share of the vote, more than doubling the 9.2% share it achieved
in 2009. It will also double its number of Members of the European
Parliament, which will go from 1 to 2 for the upcoming term. This time
around, the ERC was running in coalition with Nova Esquerra Catalana
(NEC), a recently-created, small Social-Democrat party founded by Ernest
Maragall, who quit the PSC because he felt it was not supporting
self-determination in a clear way. Now, Maragall and the person topping
the ERC's list, Josep-Maria Terricabras, will become new MEPs. In 2009,
the ERC ran in a wider coalition, which was headed by a member of this
party, Oriol Junqueras, whom now chairs the ERC and has become one of
Catalonia's most popular politicians. Junqueras was an MEP for only
two-and-a-half years, since he shared the seat with the second person in
the coalition, a representative from the Basque party Aralar.
The ERC's President emphasised that their victory will serve the commitment to hold an independence vote in Catalonia on the 9th
of November next, as agreed by a two-thirds majority of the Catalan
Parliament in December 2013. However, at the same time, Junqueras
"guaranteed" the "institutional stability" in Catalonia despite having
won, not aiming to challenge the governing CiU, with whom they share a
parliamentary stability agreement. Junqueras underlined that this
"institutional stability" is essential for the self-determination
process to succeed. The ERC's President also stressed that this victory
represents another step towards Catalonia's independence. Terricabras,
who will sit in the European Parliament, highlighted that Catalonia's
turnout was higher than that of Spain overall.
The CiU resists and obtains a greater absolute number of voters
The Centre-Right pro-Catalan State Coalition Convergència i Unió
(CiU), which brings together Liberals (CDC) and Christian-Democrats
(UDC), has resisted and obtained a percentage of the vote similar to
that of 5 years ago, despite having been in charge of the Catalan
Government for the past 4 years and having implemented important budget
cuts. In fact, in absolute terms, CiU obtained 100,000 more votes this
Sunday than in 2009. However, it went from 22.4% in 2009 to 21.9% in
2014 due to a higher turnout. The CiU, which was running with the Basque
Nationalist Party (PNV), obtained 3 MEPs. The second position in the
list was for a PNV member, but the CiU holds the first and third
positions. Therefore, the Liberal Ramon Tremosa and the
Christian-Democrat Francesc Gambús will become MEPs in the next term.
The Catalan President and leader of the CiU, Artur Mas, stated that
the results of the European elections in Catalonia "strengthen" the
self-determination process. Mas was particularly proud of the CiU having
"resisted" in these elections, despite being the party "dealing with
all the problems" since it took over the Catalan Government in 2011. Mas
was referring to the budget cuts that the Executive has implemented in
order to reduce the public deficit and the problems linked to the lack
of liquidity. For this reason, he highlighted that the CiU had increased
its support by 100,000 additional voters as compared to 2009, although
it has been overtaken by the ERC. Furthermore, he stated that "taking
into account the results, everything goes on", referring to the
self-determination process. "Not a step backwards", he said.
Support for the PSC plummets from 36% to 14.3%
The Catalan Socialists, which in Catalonia had won almost all of the
European elections in the past, have now been pushed into third
position, having lost more than half of their share of the vote. Support
for the PSC has plummeted in comparison with past elections,
particularly because it decided to oppose independence and obey the
PSOE's instructions and also refused to support specific
self-determination initiatives despite the party running in the last
Catalan elections on the promise that it would support the right of
Catalan citizens to decide on their collective future. The PSC's poor
result has also brought about a drop in support for the PSOE, since
Catalonia has traditionally been a large vote earner for the Socialists.
In the whole of Spain, the PSOE/PSC obtained 14 MEPs, 6 fewer than in
2009 and Catalan Javi López will sit in Strasbourg. However, the PSC's
second person on the PSOE list will be not be in the Euro-Chamber since
she placed fifteenth.
The Secretary General of the PSC, Pere Navarro, admitted that the
party did not obtain a positive result. However, he chose to put the CiU
in the spotlight, saying that "these are the second plebiscitary
elections lost" by the Catalan President, Artur Mas. Navarro said that
the CiU had presented these elections as a plebiscite on support for
Mas, as it had done in November 2012. Back then, the CiU lost 12 MPs,
going from 62 to 50 seats, although it did win the elections, since the
second party, the ERC, obtained 21 seats and the PSC dropped to 20 MPs.
Navarro compared this Sunday's 14.3% result with that of 2012. For this
reason he said they had "to better explain their political project".
The ICV-EUiA becomes the 4th most popular party with 10.3% of the vote
The Green and former Socialist Coalition (ICV-EUiA), which ran at
Spanish level with Izquierda Unida, increased its support from 6% to
10.3% of the vote. The ICV-EUiA strongly supports Catalonia's right to
self-determination and its European candidate to chair the European
Commission, the German Green Ska Keller, has openly supported
Catalonia's right to self-determination and stated that, in case of
independence, she would support Catalonia to become an EU Member State
from the first day of its independence. The ICV-EUiA is to get 1 MEP,
with Ernest Urtasun replacing Raül Romeva, who was one of the most
active MEPs during the last 10 years. In the whole of Spain, their
coalition obtained 6 MEPs, 4 more than in 2009.
The ICV-EUiA candidate Ernest Urtasun highlighted that left-wing
parties had won the European elections in Catalonia. In addition, the
ICV General Co-ordinator, Joan Herrera, emphasised that there will be "a
block" with more than 100 MEPs in Strasbourg that are against the
austerity measures approved so far and who will work towards changing
them. In this vein, Herrera asked the ERC to honour its Social-Democrat
side and not support the CiU's budget cuts in exchange for moving
forward Catalonia's self-determination process, which the ICV-EUiA also
supports. Herrera also emphasised that the ICV-EUiA represents a "double
vote": against the Troika and for Catalonia's right to
self-determination.
The PP loses almost half of its support in Catalonia
The People's Party, which is totally opposed to Catalan
self-determination and is currently in government in Spain, went from
18% to 9.8% of the vote. The only Catalan MEP from the PP, Santiago
Fisas, has been re-elected and will therefore retain his seat. At
Spanish level, the PP has lost 8 MEPs, dropping from 24 seats to 16, and
from 42% to 26% of the votes cast. Citizens have punished the PP for
the budget cuts and the austerity measures passed, most of which had not
been included in its 2011 electoral programme.
The leader of the PP in Catalonia, Alicia Sánchez-Camacho, asked the
Catalan President "to resign or reconsider" organising a
self-determination vote, since she said he had lost the elections.
Sánchez-Camacho insisted that Mas did not have the support of the
majority of Catalans and therefore should stop the self-determination
process and "come back to the central plane". All of the polls indicate
that between 75% and 80% of all Catalans want a self-determination vote
to be held. Sánchez-Camacho also justified the PP's loss of support in
Catalonia and in the rest of Spain by their taking of "tough decisions"
while running the Spanish Government. They also complained about "the
psychological and physical violence" they said they had suffered during
this campaign due to the self-determination debate in Catalonia.
The C's to sit in the European Parliament for the first time with 2 MEPs
The anti-Catalan nationalist and populist party Ciutadans (C's) will
sit in the European Parliament for the first time ever. They obtained
6.3% of the vote in Catalonia, much more than the 0.3% they obtained in
2009. In the whole of Spain, the C's got 3.16% of the votes cast and
obtained 2 MEPs. Therefore, Javier Nart and Juan Carlos Girauta will sit
in the Euro-chamber.
The main candidates from the C's and the party leadership followed
the results from Madrid, despite the party being based in Catalonia,
where it obtained most of its votes. However, the C’s 'number 2' and
Secretary General of the party, Matías Alonso, held a press conference
in which he stressed that the results obtained "had not been a miracle".
Alonso said the results were "the fruit of the effort and work of all
party members" going to "deep Catalonia or the Comanche territory" to
look for votes, a disrespectful way to refer to the high levels of
support for independence which exist in rural Catalonia.
